In Progress: Sumpless 55g Tank

hhoang

hhoang

New member
Hi everyone. New to the forums but I found this is a place with good advice.
So my boyfriend and I are starting a reef tank, this is his first tank in general, I have had a handful of planted FW tanks and a ridiculous number of betta tanks but, this is my first reef tank.
We bought a 55 gallon column like tank.
Dimensions are: 30" W x 18" D x 24" H
I decided to go sumpless just because I've seen successful tanks without them, just require diligence etc.

So far we've gotten:
tank
stand
fluval 306 canister (I've seen lots of reef tanks using a canister successfully with no problems, just diligence seems to be the key)
HOB fluval heater

We will be getting:
live sand, base rock and a little live rock for seeding...thinking of order from marcorocks.com
hydrometer
master test kit
our water supply is coming from the LFS close by, they get their saltwater straight from the Seattle Aquarium.
Since salt doesn't evaporate, I can top off the tank with pure, fresh water correct?

We're thinking of going with:
LED lighting and replacing the stock bulb with an actinic one
2 Koralia Evolution pumps 750-850gph (the fluval pumps out about 308gph) is this going to be enough water cirulation?
Should we get a HOB skimmer in addition to the canister filter?
We plan on running a fowlr tank for now and then adding soft corals and anenomes later on once the tank is stable.

We haven't completely decided on stock yet.
Here is a picture of the tank so far, ugly I know.
1903983_827290890621236_547155992_n.jpg


Any suggestions, cautions etc?
 
I HIGHLY reccommend adding a sump. You can build it yourself and its kinda fun. PLUS you add water volume to your system and a place to hide equipment. I did a 55G with no sump and I regretted it so much the whole time I had it. The HOB skimmers are not efficient enough imo to clean a fowlr tank (depending on stock). I would also reconsider the canister unless you want to clean it once a week. Thats another benefit to having a sump. Dont let it scare you if its plumbed right nothing bad can happen. Also with Lighting especially LED you get what you pay for. In my opinion for a 48" tank if your spending under $600 on LED's your not getting a good light. I personally would go T5. Although you arent planning a reef so it would probably be fine. Just color preference.

As far as test kits...

API is fine for amm, nitrite, and nitrate but the phosphate test is a joke.

When you get your hydrometer take it to your LFS that has a good refractometer and have them mark on your hydrometer what it actually is. The numbers are almost always wrong on them. I had mine done and 1.025 was actually like 1.027 but they are all different.


I would go with the hydor 850 or even 1150's 2 of them would do good. Drs foster and smith have them on sale right now...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4588+23592&pcatid=23592


Make sure you top off with RO water or you will end up with problems.
 
Last edited:
Ha! I just got the same tank!

Hitchhiking on thread.

I just bought a Marineland "Reef Capable" LED light w/ timer for it. Affordable, but questionable. It will be here Tuesday. I can let you know what it looks like set up, if you wish.
 
I plan on adding a sump later down the line, t5 lighting was actually my first choice and will go with it because later down the line I'd like to start some corals
I can run a protein skimmer with out a sump for now correct?
Other than that any other opinions?
 
Pigpen17 said:
Ha! I just got the same tank!

Hitchhiking on thread.

I just bought a Marineland "Reef Capable" LED light w/ timer for it. Affordable, but questionable. It will be here Tuesday. I can let you know what it looks like set up, if you wish.
Click to expand...
Definitely let me know how that works out! Looks like we're going to be twinning haha!
 
I just want to reply in something you said at last.
Your tank is not ugly man, is good to go. I think all of us started with a smaller tank and then as the wallet lets you, you can always go big man. Steady but confident.
 
I dont think it is ugly either. Shoot I downsized haha. I started with a 55 then went to a 46 BOW Now I have a 20G Long. I think I want to swap to a 40G breeder though. Still running a 20G sump though :)


QUALITY NOT QUANTITY lol
 
h8z2luze said:
You can get a HOB skimmer, yes. In the long run you will spend more buying that now then a in sump one later. I ran a aqua C remora Pro for awhile. It did ok. But my bubble magus curve 5 does twice what the remora did.


http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4392+24910&pcatid=24910
Click to expand...

Is there a skimmer that can function outside of a sump? I know a canister filter isn't the BEST but I think that with a good skimmer functioning outside of a sump will still work pretty well.
 
h8z2luze said:
I dont think it is ugly either. Shoot I downsized haha. I started with a 55 then went to a 46 BOW Now I have a 20G Long. I think I want to swap to a 40G breeder though. Still running a 20G sump though :)


QUALITY NOT QUANTITY lol
Click to expand...
Haha I just meant ugly with everything hanging over the back being visible
 
Go to a sign shop and get a piece of vinyl (whatever color you want). Dont stick it to the tank but just tape it on the back. That way it gives you a background and you can change it whenever you want. That is what I did on my 46 bow.

index.php
 
That's my next purchas as well, a background. I was thinking about spending the money on a custom cut peice of colored plexiglass (price pending). Black or blue is classic, but I was thinking about a dk blue/grey.
 
h8z2luze said:
Just get the vinyl. Its cheap and works great. You can even get it on ebay...
Click to expand...


How dose it stand up against the old backgrounds? My experience with them has been that some parts touch the glass, and others don't making the color inconsistent and giving you that "œbubbled"œ look. My thought was that the plexi would be uniformed and consistent.
 
I never noticed it. I did change it every few months cause it got wet and salt creep. The plexi glass might work good but then you are adding thickness to your back glass and that might mess with the level of your HOB stuff. Just a thought.
 
Alot of HOB stuff is adjustable though.. Just to what extent I dont know. I know I didnt think about it once and I wanted my power head under my overflow box.... Soooo the magnet for it was between the box on the back of the tank and the glass so it made my overflow box not level and I about flooded my room lol.
 
I would paint the tank black. Its easy, cheap, and you won't need to do it again. Plus you could always easily razor blade it off if you want.

Sounds like a good plan. I'm sumpless and run HOB reef octopus skimmer. I used to run a canister and biowheel too but to be honest your skimmer will do it all. It will remove gunk from the water not allowing it to break down and dissolving into your water effecting your parameters. Just empty the collection cup and you're good for a few days. Plus you save money on equipment. I have koralias in my 75 and they're more than enough.

T5 or led lighting sounds good. Get that back painted and get some water in there!
 
As far as backgrounds go, there is stuff that a lot of car guys use for temporary wheel color changes, accents, etc. called Plasti-Dip. Can get it in a variety of colors and it is basically a rubber coating that will easily peel off when you want it gone. Will get you a nice, uniform background without the permanence of paint. ~$7 per spray can. Wish I would've thought doing that to my 36 gal bow before I put it up. Oh well! cheap, tape on black background from my LFS will have to do!
 
+1 on the sump. Did you get that from petsmart? I almost bought that. I believe it is non-tempered (if it is the Top Fin model) so you can drill it.
 
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