stocking a 55gal. newbie tank

Most Corals require higher output lighting than what Normal Florescent Bulbs offer. But there are a few that will do well in lower light situations. Some soft corals and colonial corals would survive (but maybe not thrive and multiply) under Normal Output Lighting. Feeding corals is fairly easy. Most people just buy a comercial phytoplankton food and put it in there tank once or twice a week.

Before I touch on stocking I will ask this. Do you plan on putting live rock in your fish tank? If you are, and you want to keep the nice looking coraline algeas (the encrusting purple, pink, orange, green algea) alive you will need some decent light. I'm not talking about full blown Metal Halide reef lighting, but it would be who of you to invest in a VHO or Powercompact lighting system. A retrofit kit can be had for a reasonable price if you want to build it into an existing wood canopy, and a complete fixutre won't cost that much more. A 2x65watt PC fixture can be had for 120.00, a 4x65watt for 225.00 dollars. That is 130 or 260 watts respectivly, or 2.36 to 4.72 watts per gallon. With 2.36 you'll have no problem keeping many soft corals, with 4.72 you could venture into some of the more light intesive corals. Either fixture would be perfect for keeping live rock looking nice.

These fixtures are from Hello Lights. You might be able to find a better deal if you shop around.

http://www.hellolights.com/48cfpchoods.html

As for stocking, if it were my tank I would get the following fish...

1 Pair of Percula or False Percula Clowns
3 or 4 Green Chromis (cool schooling fish)
1 Royal Gramma
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Dwarf Angelfish (Potters, Flame, Coral Beauty or Bicolor Angel)

All but the Angelfish are bulletproof for reefs so if you decide to keep corals you can. The angelfish generally are safe but there is a chance they may "nip" at corals.

These are all small fish that won't outgrow your tank, easy to keep, and attractive fish.

Guy

Simon,
It is quite possible to do a simple FO (fish-only) system. Heck, in the old days we did them with undergravel filters (but that was a long time ago). Fake corals, rocks, there are even some decent looking fake plants now. A lot of us lean toward systems with llive rock because they are actually more stable and trouble-free in the long term. But you just have to look at SamsonNY's tank to see how well it can be done without live rock.

I was thinking about getting the wal-mart cheapo 55gal. and buying the things i needed seperate. Do you suppose i would save money searching for good deals on equipment or searching for a marine package in a LFS?

I always say if I had it to do over again, I would go bigger. It seems that you have more choices you can make on what you stock with. The fish that I think are cool (triggers, angels, surgeons, tangs) seem to need more room. I am not a big fan of (wrasses, blennies, gobies, or what I call hiders). If I were you, and since you have the willingness to be patient, I would search my local want adds, and ebay for a good complete setup deal. There are always people out there that get tired of there tanks, and want to sell them to someone else, and you can pay cents on the dollor.




Thanks for the patience w/ all the questions. I will try to slow down a little on asking questions and do a little studying myself.

To me, I like the feeling of figuring something out myself. In this hobby it is almost impossable. I have learned to always ask questions from an experienced hobbiest. This is worth 1000 times more than any book. Not that I am saying not read. I read for ideas, and ask here for fine tuning input.




*oh yeah. if i did go with fake stuff instead of live rock and corals, would there be any diff. things to do to it. ie. additional filter running, anything like that.

This is a question you will get mulitple answers on. First of I think fake stuff is cheesy looking. You really do not need any bio filtration when using enough live rock. I believe a lot of people in here only use skimmers and live rock. I use live rock and a canister filter, and skimmer. My goal is to do away with the canister filter (as a bio filter) and get enough live rock for my system. Technically yes you need more filtration without live rock, because you do not need bio filtration with enough live rock (if that makes sense). I believe mechanical filtration is needed to keep water clarity either way you go

Simon,

You can do a salttank without live rock, using only fake corals and decorations but it has some down sides.

1.) You will need more filtration equipment...
2.) It will limit the amount of Inverts you can keep because they won't have as much surface area to graze on.
3.) Your tank chemistry will be less manageable, although not enough IMO to warrent that as a deal breaker.

With Live Rock at 1 to 1.5 pounds per gallon plus a Deep Sand Bed you have all the filtration you need, besides a good protein skimmer or a macro algea refugium (either will server about the same purpose, consuming/exporting nutrients in the water)

The nice thing about the Live Rock is this. You can buy/aquire say 50% base rock, which is just porous dry dead rock... That can range from free to under a 1.00$ per pound. I have access to Limestone Rock Quarry where I live so my base rock is free!

The other half can be good premium live rock bought online for as little as 3.00 dollars per pound.

In your case I'd say go with 75lbs of rock. If you get 40 pounds Live and 35 base, paying 3.00 per pound for live and 1.00 per pound for base your total cost would be $155.00 dollars. That isn't anymore expensive than buying a mechanical canister or wetdry filter. Now since Live Rock is also decoration, you don't have to buy fake or dead corals. There is another 100.00 dollar expense, minimum.... That stuff isn't cheap.

For a Deep Sand Bed, ranging from 4 to 6 inches, you can use play box sad from Home Depot, or buy some premium sand from a local fish store. The home depot sand won't cost you 50.00 dollars. The LFS sand will be a few bucks. I would recommend PlayBox sand for the majority, and see if you can find any local reefers to donate you some live sand from their tank. That will help seed the sand with organisms that will inhabit the sand bed, stir it up, and aid in eating fish waste and food!

Now you will want to get a Protein Skimmer. You can get a hang on back skimmer or you can get one that sits inside a sump. The hang on will be cheaper overall, because you won't have to run water down to a sump (a small say 20 gal tank) that sits under the display tank and pump it back up. But a sump has the benifit of have a place to put heaters, chemical filter media like Carbon, and so on. And the return pump will add to your over all water flow. A protein skimmer for a 55gal tank will probably cost you under 100.00 dollars, there are deals out there probably better.

Overall I think you will end up spending 25 to 35% more on a saltwater tank than a freshwater tank, but IMO the added expense is worth it, and setting it up in this manner will look more natural, it will keep maintenance of the tank lower, and it will provide a better environment for your inhabitants.

Guy

The mandarin's are really cool fish, but they are difficult to keep. This is because they require a tank with a very healthy large supply of copepods, which are really small little invertabrates that live in your tank. They look like tiny little shrimp. That is about the only thing they will eat.

In a tank filled with live rock you will likely be able to sustain a population of those pods, but you should wait atleast 6 months before adding a mandarin, giving the pod population time to grow and mature.

Guy

www.fellerstone.com sells lace rock to pet stores. I did contact them once and said I wanted a large quantity and none of the stores around enough. They said they could ship me larger lots for something like 50 cents a pound, shipping included.

Most people add live rock over the course of a few months. I did mine in 6 lots of 25 pounds, about 1 every month. The thing is if live rock (and base rock) is going to be your main filtration (besides a deep sand bed and skimmer) you need enough to start with. In a 55 gallon I would try to start with atleast 40 pounds (maybe 20 pounds of live and 20 pounds of base), then over the course of a couple months put another 20 to 40 pounds in.

depending on the density of the rock you may need more or less, in pounds. if it's really light rock you may find you need a little less, if it's really heavy you may find you will have a little more, so saying x pounds per gallon is difficult in that regards. But usually 1 to 1.5 pounds per gallon is the average. In my 125g I have about 150 to 160 pounds so far. I want more because there is still a lot of open space, but that boils down to preference.

Guy