My first 55gal reef build with ??s

[moovinfast]

So Im finally setting up my first reef tank. I think its actually a 50 gallon tank but oh well. Sold the PCs that came with it and picked up 4x54 t5s with moonlights.

Heres the tank when I first got it.

And now with the base rock I have

Plus Im picking up a 72 gallon bow front pretty much just for the live rock and fish. So after tomorrow the rock in the tank will probably double with live rock. Can you have too much live rock in a reef tank? How much room do the fish need to swim? Im getting 1 clown, 1 blue tang, 1 other small white fish, and 3 huge turbo snails. I want to eventually add one more clown and maybe one other fish. The rock in the tank where it looks close to the front I can just fit my hand between the rock and glass. Think Ill be ok?

 

[Shane Hoffman]

If the rock is that close top to bottom, no its not ok. There are few corals and fish that wont quickly outgrow that space and be smashing into the glass. Also you would be cutting it close on swimming room for the tang with no rock in their at all. The tang police will bash you bad but personally I believe a very small tang in a 55 wide open tank would be ok....so long as you plan on giving him up when he gets bigger.....Another problem with that much live rock is your going to be displacing a lot of water. Its tuff to figure out but I would be willing to bet your definately goig to be closer to 30 gallons of water than you will 50.....

 

[silentscream]

I have a 4ft 55 gallon display tank, and my advise to you is to choose your rock pieces and aquascaping carefully. I regret many pieces of rock I placed in my tank which I'm now forced to live with, as they make cleaning the tank very difficult and have created several deadspots to the point that I need to have more powerheads in the tank than if I had planned properly. Do your research and look at every thread you can for examples of well planned aquascaping.

 

[spsfarmer09]

no , you cant stress that enough, corals will need room to grow and fish need room to swim. If it was fowlr you could have a lot of rock but when you are having a reef you want to aquascape minimalist style.

 

[gowingsgo]

My first tank was a 40 gallon that I filed with rock up the sides and back. It made it very hard to clean or do any kind of maintenance, and get fish out. My second tank 65 gallon I did just the back wall with rock it was still hard to clean and had lots of flow problems. Now on on my third tank a 125 gallon No rocks on the glass just two small islands in there. It was the best thing I ever did makes cleaning easy, fish have lots of room to swim ( HAPPY FISH) and great flow in the tank
I would also say you should buy your clown fish as a set some people have a hard time adding a clown latter on after they already have one in the tank.

 

[moovinfast]

This is how much more rock is getting added to the 55. So how much of the base rock do you think I should take out? Just make two big piles? one on each side?

 

[spsfarmer09]

um, i your are making the 2 island i would take 2 medium pieces and mold small pieces around it till it looks pretty cool.

 

[guy145]

i just tranfered from a 45 gal tall to a 55 gal long i love it every thing is doin great and my soft corals are growing nicely and about to add a couple exotic fish cause i dont want a hole lot of fish i like reef better im tryin to add pics..

 

[anoy1nce]

What size sump are you using for this tank? Also what equiptment are you planning to use?

 

[Katmanblue]

Just from the pics alone, I'm not sure I would use any of the base rock. I think you could do a very nice arrangement in the 55 with just the LR I'm seeing in that bowfront; while still leaving room for flow and fish. Put the base in the bowfront or in a sump if you're doing one. Or the garden
And ditto on the clowns. As a pair at the beginning you can usually major aggression that may occur if you add a second one much later.
Good luck.

 

[moovinfast]

Took the fish to a LFS. The water was so bad the Tang had nitrate burns and would just lay at the bottom of the tank. Hopefully they can save it. Just looked over all the live rock and removed algae and some pests with a lighter. Not sure if Im going to need any of the base rock. But I think Im going to set up the 72 bow instead. I have a large skimmer. Think its a seaclone with a new pump. 4x54w T5s, and for a sump I was going to use 2x 10 gallon tanks. Thats about all that will fit under my stand. I only have about 12 inches of width to work with. Going to put the skimmer in one tank and make a fuge in the other. But Im leaving for vacation for two weeks. So guess Ill have to start a 72 gall build thread when I get back.