My 55 gallon reef build

[Mg4life0331]

Okay so here I am after two months of reading and buying. I encourage everyone to comment and help, berate, belittle, encourage, celebrate or whatever makes your camera flash. This tank is for all the kids who live around here, and for the big kid who owns it.

55 gallon tank, Reef octopus HOB skimmer, a medium sized HOB refuge from dr foster and smith, 2 koralia 600 gph (2 1500s on the way), Instant Ocean salt, ro/di water, 50 lbs of aragonite sand 16/48 screened, 36 lbs of dry rock and 14 lbs of live rock.

Got my rock from a lfs, it's cured but I luckily got a crab that died the instant I put him in. Nothing like some free ammonia. He looks like something a cat coughed up right now. I did pick up a bottle of ace ammonia to help this cycle. I'm pretty conservative with it thus far. I got an API kit for the initial part of cycling. I will upgrade to something in the near future. As of right now I like playing with my refractometer and test kit. Therefore wasting tests or playing like a kid as I like to say, will be my intent for a few weeks.

For two days I've added 1 ml of ammonia and it's come up to around 1 ppm on the test. My nitrite is still zero, as it expected. My pH is around 7.9 to 8.0. SG is right between 1.024 and 1.025.

Stupid lfs back ordered my heater and it will be here tommorrow. I plan to crank it up for some bacteria. Like 84-86 degrees. Just for cycle though.

 

[fpv930]

Looks like your off to a good start. Let the fun times begin!!

 

[starcutter]

Mg4life0331,

Looks promising for a first time tank. My first foray into SW was a 55g and I loved it and learned a lot. Couple of things since you're running your filtration "on the back" vs. sump...what are your stocking plans insofar as inverts and fish? I don't think I caught the lighting used on this tank but it looks like T5's or perhaps LED's...hard to tell. If you aren't already, I would recommend prestaging mixed saltwater in a garbage can similar to this one. It sure makes water changes easier when you have this step already done.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Thanks, and yes I'm loving how much more involved saltwater is compared to fresh.

 

[robotman]

Okay so here I am after two months of reading and buying. I encourage everyone to comment and help, berate, belittle, encourage, celebrate or whatever makes your camera flash. This tank is for all the kids who live around here, and for the big kid who owns it.

55 gallon tank, Reef octopus HOB skimmer, a medium sized HOB refuge from dr foster and smith, 2 koralia 600 gph (2 1500s on the way), Instant Ocean salt, ro/di water, 50 lbs of aragonite sand 16/48 screened, 36 lbs of dry rock and 14 lbs of live rock.

Got my rock from a lfs, it's cured but I luckily got a crab that died the instant I put him in. Nothing like some free ammonia. He looks like something a cat coughed up right now. I did pick up a bottle of ace ammonia to help this cycle. I'm pretty conservative with it thus far. I got an API kit for the initial part of cycling. I will upgrade to something in the near future. As of right now I like playing with my refractometer and test kit. Therefore wasting tests or playing like a kid as I like to say, will be my intent for a few weeks.

For two days I've added 1 ml of ammonia and it's come up to around 1 ppm on the test. My nitrite is still zero, as it expected. My pH is around 7.9 to 8.0. SG is right between 1.024 and 1.025.

Stupid lfs back ordered my heater and it will be here tommorrow. I plan to crank it up for some bacteria. Like 84-86 degrees. Just for cycle though.

looks like youre on the right track. bump your ph up to 8.2-8.3, depending on what youre wanting you might want more liverock, another 30-40 lbs or so. gives you more options on rockscaping :rollface: GoodJob keep it up!, its not a hobby its a passion

 

[Mg4life0331]

I kinda skimped on the rock because of the lack of width of the tank. Wanted plenty of swimming space. I agree though it is a bit sparse. The pH? Well I'm aware its low but I wanted some gas exchange for a week or so and see what would happen. If nothing good happens fast so to speak I wasn't in a rush to fix. I do intend to keep corals though so it will have to come up. Was considering a kalk drip. Thanks for the comments thus far.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Mg4life0331,

Looks promising for a first time tank. My first foray into SW was a 55g and I loved it and learned a lot. Couple of things since you're running your filtration "on the back" vs. sump...what are your stocking plans insofar as inverts and fish? I don't think I caught the lighting used on this tank but it looks like T5's or perhaps LED's...hard to tell. If you aren't already, I would recommend prestaging mixed saltwater in a garbage can similar to this one. It sure makes water changes easier when you have this step already done.

Absolutely no inverts right now. Maybe one day with a bigger tank. Fish list is 1 A. ocelarris, 1 green mandarin, 1 royal gramma, 1 spotted cardinal, and 1 purple fire fish. Around 10 snails and 4 or 5 shrimp. I know i want some zoas, Ill look into some easy corals to grow as well.

Its a dual t5 light leftover from my freshwater setup. I really only turn it on now to take that picture and do tests. I have a 4 bulb t5 w/led moonbeam with a timer on the way. I got 2 foodgrade buckets topped off with 5 gallons of rodi water. I got a small 50 gpd filters so i have to think ahead of time. Thanks for commenting.

 

[starcutter]

Absolutely no inverts right now. Maybe one day with a bigger tank. Fish list is 1 A. ocelarris, 1 green mandarin, 1 royal gramma, 1 spotted cardinal, and 1 purple fire fish. Around 10 snails and 4 or 5 shrimp. I know i want some zoas, Ill look into some easy corals to grow as well.

Its a dual t5 light leftover from my freshwater setup. I really only turn it on now to take that picture and do tests. I have a 4 bulb t5 w/led moonbeam with a timer on the way. I got 2 foodgrade buckets topped off with 5 gallons of rodi water. I got a small 50 gpd filters so i have to think ahead of time. Thanks for commenting.

Two things. Unless you're planning on culturing copepods/amphipods on a regular basis your green mandarin may starve. They rarely take prepared foods and unless they can hunt live "bugs" they will quickly wipe out any pod population you have and then die. There are now sites out there where you can buy copes/amphi's these days to provide them a steady food supply but you'll need to always watch their weight or "plumpness". Also, I love Royal Grammas but you may want to introduce it after the purple fire fish. RG's have a tendency to agressively defend their home against other similar shaped fish. My existing RG almost killed a newly introduced 6-line wrasse in my first 55gal. If you introduce aggressive species latter they tend to not have time to develop turfs to defend.

 

[JAnwyl]

I really want a Mandarin but my 10 gallon sump can't support it. I've always done 1pd rock per gallon or more. See what others say but I would suggest adding more live rock.

 

[JAnwyl]

I also had like 25pounds live sand.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Two things. Unless you're planning on culturing copepods/amphipods on a regular basis your green mandarin may starve. They rarely take prepared foods and unless they can hunt live "bugs" they will quickly wipe out any pod population you have and then die. There are now sites out there where you can buy copes/amphi's these days to provide them a steady food supply but you'll need to always watch their weight or "plumpness". Also, I love Royal Grammas but you may want to introduce it after the purple fire fish. RG's have a tendency to agressively defend their home against other similar shaped fish. My existing RG almost killed a newly introduced 6-line wrasse in my first 55gal. If you introduce aggressive species latter they tend to not have time to develop turfs to defend.

To make a long story short, I wanted to go saltwater, 1st fish I really wanted was a dragonet, spent weeks learning how to treat one, got the refuge. Its the only reason I got one. Thanks for the heads up on the Gramma and the Fire Fish. I will definitely do that.

 

[Mg4life0331]

I really want a Mandarin but my 10 gallon sump can't support it. I've always done 1pd rock per gallon or more. See what others say but I would suggest adding more live rock.

You really can't support that amount of pods? That's a bit alarming. I didnt do any live sand, but according to other posts it will be eventually. I have around 15 more lbs of sand in the fuge and 2 lbs of rock in there. Im right around 50 lbs total dry and live rock. I know it will take a while to cycle and Im ok with that.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Forgot to answer you on one thing Starcutter, I will risk crashing the tank with the amount of pods I will try to produce. That mandarin is what I really want. Even if he is the only thing in there with some corals.

 

[starcutter]

To make a long story short, I wanted to go saltwater, 1st fish I really wanted was a dragonet, spent weeks learning how to treat one, got the refuge. Its the only reason I got one. Thanks for the heads up on the Gramma and the Fire Fish. I will definitely do that.

Mg4life0331,

In the end it's up to you...just want to provide what advice I can. Your refugium may prove to be sufficient, but you'll just want to monitor it closely.

Once your tank is finished cycling get some more live sand from an established tank and let the pods breed for a good while (2-4 weeks) and establish "colonies"...if you will...in both the tank and refugium. I would then check your tank at night every couple of weeks to see if your pods are out in good numbers and stay that way. Back when I started the hobby having mail-order pods was just getting started. Nowadays I think you have more resources to keep these very beautiful and interesting fish.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Mg4life0331,

In the end it's up to you...just want to provide what advice I can. Your refugium may prove to be sufficient, but you'll just want to monitor it closely.

Once your tank is finished cycling get some more live sand from an established tank and let the pods breed for a good while (2-4 weeks) and establish "colonies"...if you will...in both the tank and refugium. I would then check your tank at night every couple of weeks to see if your pods are out in good numbers and stay that way. Back when I started the hobby having mail-order pods was just getting started. Nowadays I think you have more resources to keep these very beautiful and interesting fish.

Whats the point of more sand? Reason I ask is because I wanted to avoid the DSB issues. Hence the light layer in the DT. It is nearly 5 inches deep in the fuge.

 

[Grandlotus]

Welcome to the reefing world.
What kind of lights do you have, what kind of coral do you plan on keeping, fish, ect?

Did you add any pods to seed your tank?
I would stop adding the ammonia. YMMV.

I run a DSB in my display, what issues do you speak of? I run powder fine sand.

Any new pictures/updates?

 

[starcutter]

Whats the point of more sand? Reason I ask is because I wanted to avoid the DSB issues. Hence the light layer in the DT. It is nearly 5 inches deep in the fuge.

I don't mean sand for the sake of having sand...I mean sand from an established tank with pods to assist in seeding your amphipod population since the majority of your rock started off as dry rock. That or you can order pods to get them going.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Welcome to the reefing world.
What kind of lights do you have, what kind of coral do you plan on keeping, fish, ect?

Did you add any pods to seed your tank?
I would stop adding the ammonia. YMMV.

I run a DSB in my display, what issues do you speak of? I run powder fine sand.

Any new pictures/updates?

Currently a dual t5 leftover from freshwater. Got a quad t5 on the way. I need to research my corals but nothing overly difficult, but definitely some Zoas. A ocellaris clown, 1 mandarin, royal gramma, spotted cardinal, and a firefish.

Haven't added pods yet, Im only 4 days into cycle. Thought I had to wait? I have added about 4 ml total of ammonia over the course of 4 days. No where near a high amount. Could you explain why?

The DSB I read could harbor some nasty stuff and if it gets loose in the tank you can kill stuff.

I don't "know" anything. Only reading the stickies here religiously and some of the blogs by Randy the Chemist. Ill post a new pic in a few, I got a background and some more water movers.

 

[Mg4life0331]

I don't mean sand for the sake of having sand...I mean sand from an established tank with pods to assist in seeding your amphipod population since the majority of your rock started off as dry rock. That or you can order pods to get them going.

Ah I see. I figured I would buy a few of them bottles from the lfs and give them a couple of months to do what they do. The mandarin is no where near coming in here. I didn't expect to get one until May or April if that info is any good for you.

 

[Mg4life0331]

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