what kind of food do i need

Well, I hope this doesn't sound bad but I'm hoping everything's fully cycled and your tank's been running for several months now with all you have in it. Then again, if they're alive, then you probably have had it that long.


As far as food, never bank on one meal ticket to do it all. Even if all you have is one goldfish, always feed a variety.

For flake (fed super sparingly, it's high-octane protien and high-octane pollutant), Tetra marine flake works for me, or better yet, get a veggie flake food. They tend to be lower in protien (people overrate protien content) and higher in plant materials.

Frozen mysis are probably my favorite food. Sometimes hard to find but VERY well worth it. Second is shrimp (regular old cheap raw grocery store shrimp will work). Third is a hodgepodge of whatever I happen to catch on fishing/shrimping trips: clam, squid, oyster meat, etc.. All meaty foods should be solid frozen before use if you bought them fresh, to reduce chance on introducing pathogens. Shrimp are EASY to grate with a cheese/carrot grater when they are frozen, makes perfect little slivers.

Have fun feeding them. In a well established reef, feed your fish LESS than once a day if you can stand it. I feed mine maybe twice a week.

For the corals, I'll simply recommend you save your money and buy one son-of-a-gun-of-a-refugium. A small powerhead will work well for a return pump (shoot for a final flow rate of less than a hundred GPH). The best refugium is a 6000 gallon outdoor pond, but a 20-gallon long or another used cruddy 55 gallon makes a nice fuge for a 55. Put in a few inches of sand (live or not, live prolly best), some macroalgae and some light, and just wait. Add no life to it other than maybe a couple massive hermit crabs to keep the gravel stirred. You'lll grow tons of copepods and amphipods to feed your fish and maybe corals.

If I were you I would get a different skimmer. I just purchased a Coralife Super Skimer that is rated for a 65 gallon tank for around $90 off line and I could not be happier. This thing has only been on my tank for about 12 hours and is already starting to pull out dark, almost coffee colored sludge. My prizm skimmer NEVER pulled out anything like this...not even after 7 months of running 24/7.
I understand that money can be tight, but if you are serious about this hobby I would get a better skimmer than you have listed if it is at all possible.


Bradd