New 55 Gallon Setup

Well, I found a place online that sells Koralia #2 Powerheads for about $35 a piece and I will be getting 2 of them very soon. What would be proper placement? I figure if I put one on each side, it would cause a whirl pool. I will also be adding a protein skimmer to the system soon.

So far all seems well, and it seems that the LR is already growing some stuff on it. The place I got it from sells it as small, medium and large, starting at $11 for small and $28 for large. Another place around here sells it for $7 a pound.

It holds 2 15W florescent bulbs. I'm assuming I'll have to change the lids to have better lighting?

I'm assuming SG is specific gravity. Right now it reads just a hair above 1.022.
 
1.022 is good! I personally keep mine at 1.025 to match my LFS.

About $7 a pound is on par with most LFS's that sell live rock, so you aren't getting hosed or anything... don't worry about what others pay for their LR, it's probably not the same quality as yours unless they networked with some good people.

You can place the powerheads wherever you want. The fish are used to weird currents in the ocean. I would consider a #2 & a #3. The #2's give flow, but for a 55 gallon I think you would need 3 of them to get the right flow for coral down the road, but you can certainly get away with two #2's for now. I would position one on the side glass, about 1/4 from the top & point is to the surface to break up the surface even more, help break up that film on the top of your water. I would take the other powerhead and place it on the back glass, at the far end of the tank & point that powerhead down and at an angle towards the other end of the tank.

I have a corner tank with a #2 & #3, no matter how I set it up it's like one giant flushing toilet in their, so far the coral are thriving and my fish are unphased by this.

As for your skimmer, it seems there are 3 brands that everyone loves. For a hang on the back skimmer, since it looks like you have no sump and are on a limited budget, there is the Aqua C Remora, the Red Sea HOB & the skimmer I will be going with is the Typhoon or Terminator. While the skimmer is important, it's okay to go without one for now.

Do your weekly 5g water changes and proteins won't be an issue. I've read several articles & even my LFS says the best protein skimmer is water changes, but over time that task becomes tedious & with the volume of some tanks, 25g water changes a week are not in the budget & requires too much time.

When you mix your water, take your #3 powerhead and put it in your bucket. It'll completely mix your water in just a few minutes, you can borrow your tank heater & bring the bucket water up to match the temp in your tank. By mixing your water and letting it run for a couple hours, that initial PH spike most people get when mixing water won't happen, you won't shock your fish or any of the critters & coral living in your tank!

The lighting you have right now will grow very little of anything, I think you could maybe do some mushrooms? On the very low end of lighting, your goal should be to get ATLEAST 60 watts of light over your tank. I roughly have 96 watts over my 36g and I've had no trouble with some coral that I've read online needs very high lighting
 
Thanks Dan! All your information has been quite handy to me.

I found a place that sells both powerheads, so I'll be getting a 2 and a 3. I'll also be picking up some more LR along with more wattage hoods and bulbs, and eventually a protein skimmer.

Anything else I may be missing from this information I need to be filled in on, just let me know.
 
Awesome!

Some people are dead set on doing things ONE way only, so you will get a whole lot of 'you're doing it all wrong, be ready for disaster'. Sure, you can have a disaster, but what are you going to lose right now? You almost have nothing in the tank... Somehow you could foul 55 gallons of water...so you may have to drain and mix 55 gallons again - that'd suck...but you don't have hundreds or even thousands worth of livestock in there! Piece it together slowly, try not to add too much life that is dependent on equipment and you'll be okay.

I'm a little over a month into the SW world, but there are so many resources out there it can be overwhelming. I've found that finding a great LFS (if it's available to you) and using the forums for information is a great way to weed out misinformation. You'll still run into it at your LFS & here, but there will be members who have beautiful tanks & experience that you'll learn to trust! I don't know much more than the very basics, and honestly the basics seem to be the most difficult part of starting with SW, everyone portrays it as such a labor & research intensive hobby. You can keep very beautiful, yet basic & hardy corals & fish, have a tank that looks like a seasoned pro built & established it, and your family & friends won't have a clue you only know how to mix saltwater and test for nitrates!

My LFS gave me good advice....never make a decision on advice from someone without ever seeing their tank.
 
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Don't worry, you're doing just fine and at least you're taking the advice given to you and are using it. I think you're off to a better start than many people out there. Knowledge is acquired through research, questions and experience. You're well on your way.
 
There's some good info here. I'm just recently converting my 55gal to saltwater so this info has been great. The biggest thing I've noticed was how much I've spent and how quick, lol. 30 pounds of live rock at 6.99/pound, 60 pounds of live sand at about 60 dollars total.....Geez, then comes the cost of fish, lol. Can't wait to have this thing going, best of luck with your setup, I look forward to seeing pics of the progress.
 
Well, I think it's safe to say that the cycle is starting. I tested for ammonia tonight and it's off from 0 now, but just slightly.

Am I still safe to add LR while the cycle begins and runs? I don't see why not as it will help with the biological filtration.

A little side note: I'll just use this same thread for my questioning so I don't have to keep adding a new thread every time something new comes up.
 
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i would suggest u add some base rock to your tank.
some nice big flat peices will give u a great base to start building onto.
it will also become live rock is a short space of time.
The best part about base rock is its FREE. hows that for your budget.
also I see a small problem with your substrate, mabe its just me, but i found that when i had sand at one end of my tank i couldnt vacume it as it all ended up getting sucked out..
to rectify this i just put a good layer of fine gravel over it.
I have also found that fine gravel houses all kinds of cool little critters.
 
Since you have fish in there already, you will want to add liverock slowly. Even cured LR generally has some small amount of die-off. As you get more in there, you will be able to add it faster as the more LR in the tank, the more diverse and stable the cycle becomes.

I'll second the Koralia powerheads, they're great. As far as placement, sometimes it just takes a bunch of trial and error to find placement that will not create any dead spots, but isn't blasting any particular area or creating dishes in your sand bed.
 
People are recommending that I get a better filter. What if I was to get another one exactly like the one I have and put it on the other side? That would be two filters equaling power for 120 gallon tank in a 55, one on each side, and would eliminate the need for a powerhead to break up the surface as these would do it quite swell.

Just a thought of mine. Don't know how well that would do, but it would put 1 filter on each side.
 
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