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wishmaster

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I originally posted a question quite some time ago relating to starting a 55 gallon marine tank. I have a couple quick questions.
I will have a base of 4 or 5 inches of Live Sand and around 45 to 55lb of LR. The fish I haven't made up my mind. I won't get corals or the like for this tank.
What filtration IYO would best suit this setup? I was thinking a wet dry filter particularly the Aqua Clear Aquatics Pro 75.
I had planned on the Prizm protein skimmer, is this suitable for this tank?
Another quick question: What can you mix with your live sand to help build your sand bed up? Okay thats it, any answers would be much appreciative.
 
Fish wise, I'd go with a pygmy angel, a trio of chalk basslets, and a small wrasse of some kind. Get a good clean up crew--hermits, snails, worms, ect.

I wouldn't add any additional filtration , but maybe get another 10-15 lbs of live rock--or, base rock that will become live. If you want to add a media-less filter to increase flow, that's fine, but otherwise, you just risk creating nitrates from the detritus that gets trapped in the filter and your clean crew can't access.

Get a better skimmer--Euro reef is top line, but maybe over kill.

You can mix play sand ( or a small grained sand of your choice) with live sand. It will all become live eventually. And, you'll hear a lot about the hazards of using regular silica sand...Your entire tank is the same silica as in the sand. The only way it releases free silicas that contribute to algae is when the pH drops below about 5...At which point you're going to have much bigger issues than a bit of algae.
 
The live rock and deep sand bed would be all the filtration you'd need. A wet/dry or mechanical filter would not be necessary. In fact, any type of mechanical filtration will likely raise your nitrates to unacceptable levels. And, the more live rock the better.

The Prizm is a decent skimmer but not for a tank that large. The biggest tank I'd put a Prizm on would be a 30 gallon.

If you'd like to add depth to your live sand bed, look around for Southdown Tropical Play Sand. Depending on where you live, you may find it at Home Depot. If Southdown can't be located, any aragonite sand will work great. If aragonite isn't available, sandblasting sand or pool filter sand will work fine too. Just make sure the grains aren't too large - should be about the consistency of sugar.

Cheers!
 
Go with more LR would you say around the 60+lbs work plus the LS. The site I wanted to order from doesn't carry that line of skimmer is there another I should keep an eye out for. One other quick question:
Why are bristleworms so bad? and does all LR have them? okay thats like two questions but owell thanks for the replys you already saved me a 179 bucks
 
Check out the berlin Skimmers by red sea.
Most Bristle worms are good. They are great detritavores, and very rarely case any harm to corals, fish, inverts, or you.
 
I'm not using a sump or anything like that, it looks like those berlin skimmers you need to put them in a sump type setup. Am I reading it wrong or a different model. What unit would work best in a 55 gallon?
 
One other note: I was looking at the berlin skimmer rated for 250 gallons and it has 3 hose barbs. One at the bottome and 2 that sit side by side about 1/4 from the top. How do you hook those up?
 
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