Hi guys,
New to the marine side of fish keeping. planning to set up a 55Gal now that I'm settled into my new house.
Last time I kept fish was about 5years ago. had a couple of 33G fresh setups... and a 55gal Brackish tank.
Looking to set up a 33 or 55 fresh for the wife and a 55gal marine for myself.
The plan is to ultimately get some easy to keep corals nothing difficult or requiring a ton of light. (probably just stay with sofites etc.) and some small reef safe fish (wife wants seahorses too, any recommendations for calm slow fish that would go well with those?)
Here's the plan:
- 55Gal - no sump (don't have a whole lot of room and scared of plumbing/overflows etc)
- glass tops - split into 2 sides - I have the lights sitting on the glass/frame
- H/O Red Sea Prism Skimmer (old - gotta make sure it works and clean it up)
- Planning on getting 50Gal of live rock to start cycling (probably will have to split it up into 2 batches or is that neccessary?)
- Looking to using 2inch of sand
- I have an emperor 400 & a couple 280s that could be put to use if you guys think they'd come in handy, but from what I've read, the liverock should do the trick.
- Just grabbed one of those fancy Koralia pumps (#4) and I have a crappy old one somewhere in the basement
- I've got a regular flourescent light strip that came with it (would like to use it cuz it sorta matches the color of the tank trim & stand)
- Just picked up a dual T5 strip with 2 super actinic bulbs
- Might add a 24inch strip to one side in the future (gotta keep the back of one side for the skimmer.
- Looking into getting a RO unit for the kitchen. (I have plastic water pipes in my house, but i guess there could be copper somewhere along the line??)
(I guess I need to use RO for curing/cycling with the fresh live rock? Or can I get away with curing it with dechlorinated tap?? Hopefully someone can help me with this cuz I'm hoping to grab the rock this weekend)
Please let me know what I'm missing or if you have any tips/gotchas/pointers/etc for me
Thanks so much guys!
New to the marine side of fish keeping. planning to set up a 55Gal now that I'm settled into my new house.
Last time I kept fish was about 5years ago. had a couple of 33G fresh setups... and a 55gal Brackish tank.
Looking to set up a 33 or 55 fresh for the wife and a 55gal marine for myself.
The plan is to ultimately get some easy to keep corals nothing difficult or requiring a ton of light. (probably just stay with sofites etc.) and some small reef safe fish (wife wants seahorses too, any recommendations for calm slow fish that would go well with those?)
Here's the plan:
- 55Gal - no sump (don't have a whole lot of room and scared of plumbing/overflows etc)
- glass tops - split into 2 sides - I have the lights sitting on the glass/frame
- H/O Red Sea Prism Skimmer (old - gotta make sure it works and clean it up)
- Planning on getting 50Gal of live rock to start cycling (probably will have to split it up into 2 batches or is that neccessary?)
- Looking to using 2inch of sand
- I have an emperor 400 & a couple 280s that could be put to use if you guys think they'd come in handy, but from what I've read, the liverock should do the trick.
- Just grabbed one of those fancy Koralia pumps (#4) and I have a crappy old one somewhere in the basement
- I've got a regular flourescent light strip that came with it (would like to use it cuz it sorta matches the color of the tank trim & stand)
- Just picked up a dual T5 strip with 2 super actinic bulbs
- Might add a 24inch strip to one side in the future (gotta keep the back of one side for the skimmer.
- Looking into getting a RO unit for the kitchen. (I have plastic water pipes in my house, but i guess there could be copper somewhere along the line??)
(I guess I need to use RO for curing/cycling with the fresh live rock? Or can I get away with curing it with dechlorinated tap?? Hopefully someone can help me with this cuz I'm hoping to grab the rock this weekend)
Please let me know what I'm missing or if you have any tips/gotchas/pointers/etc for me
Thanks so much guys!
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