New to the hobby - Looking for suggestions on my 55 Gallon "Deep" tank.

[KMS.Kyle]

Hello - I'm new to the hobby and looking for some suggestions on how to make this tank better or if where I'm at is OK. Eventually I want to have a nice reef and have spent quite a few hours researching - but opinions / experience are always helpful.

I recently purchased an odd sized 55 gallon tank from a couple that had it for 8 months. It was fully cycled and came with 6 fish, 100+ lbs of live rock and a few corals (Zoa, Hammer, frogspawn, Green star polyp and a few others) (and 2 snails, 3 hermits and a massive tiger snail).

The Tank: (Interestingly shaped)
39 x 14 x 32
Cleair Aquatics brand w/ digital timer + temperature display.
(Note: the light definitely wasn't strong enough to reach the bottom of this tank as the couple had their frogspawn/hammer for 3 months and they barely grew as much as they've grown in 1 week under my new kessil 360N)
They had this tank the entire time with no skimmer, no power heads - just the heater and pump and this tank DOES NOT seem to be made for saltwater - so I've been doing my best to correct things where I can)

The Fish:
Golden Sleeper Goby
Firefish Goby
2 Young clowns
1 PJ Cardinal
1 Melanurus Fairy Wrasse

The Gear I have/purchased so far:
- FILSTAR XP-S Pump (filled the bottom with live rock pieces to add to it)
- 2x - Fluval Powerhead (50+ gallon) (thought this would be enough in a narrow tank and seems to be doing great)
- Apex JR + Temperature prob
- Kessil 360N Tuna blue (This coupled with the cheap bar light they have seem to do GREAT everything is thriving)
- Tunze Nano DOC 9004 Skimmer - Not much space to work with here so I had to opt to get this and it seems to be doing great - Nitrate levels are 0-5/Ammonia 0.

Questions -
-I currently have my power heads pointed in opposite directions - one pointed towards my view and one towards the back wall -(Note: the picture was before I purchased the 2 fluval power heads) it seems to do a really good job circulating - but I was wondering - would putting them on the side walls opposite of each other do this job better?

-Should I wait a couple weeks to add a fish in? After such a massive transfer across town (50% water transfer, 50% sand transfer and winging it with the salinity/ph at first) I feel pretty lucky that everything has worked out this far and I really don't want to screw it up. I've been testing my water every 2 days for SG, PH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite - Everything looks good. That or I wanted to add in a skunk cleaner shrimp. (Also, do you recommend that I get any other tests?)
SG - 0.124-5
PH - 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0-5
Nitrite - 0
Temp - 25-26 (77-79)

On that note - Do you think my tank is already too stocked and if not - what type of fish would you recommend to add to this current stock? Up to hearing peoples opinions as the tank is definitely an odd shape.

Next question -

The rock setup - As you can see, I did my best to imagine my self as a fish in a reef and tried to make it as visually appealing to me but as engaging as possible for them - but a few things keep happening - A: The snails tend to knock my corals around and sometimes knock my hammer into the sand and I have to put in a lot of work to retrieve it. B: The rocks are steady now but I fear that my goby (of whom tunnels like crazy) is going to spell disaster by taking down the structure. (PS THE TANK is acrylic). I purchased some fluval adhesive - would you recommend me taking a day to apply this for safety?

Also, what would you change or add to the structure? Because its such a tall/narrow tank - I need to make sure the light can reach the reef wall and to the bottom - Do you think I could find some well shaped pieces of rock to adhesive onto the upper rack (assuming I adhesive it all into one piece inside) up a bit taller while still leaving room for light? I think it would look really neat to have it go up at least another 5 inches.. But again, I need an opinion as to if this is over kill and if it may actually just risk losing the lower half of my tanks light after a year of growth, etc.

Next question -
Do auto feeders work? And if so - how do I deal with a high energy fish like my wrasse that requires multiple feedings? Note: I love feeding my fish and caring for my tanks - so this isn't a "I want to do less work" thing - this is a fail safe in case I can't be home to care for my buddies because of an emergency. (I also have Apex JR as mentioned so I can configure the feeder here too)

One more question -

Would it be over-kill (which I read more skimming is never over kill) to add another tunze nano doc 9004 to the right side of my tank? (Opposite of the one on the left) - It would not only look symmetrical but it's quiet and I found one for REALLY cheap that is still in box. (hell, I paid $230 for the other) - That said - note - my water parameters are great right now - but I want to get more corals and possibly 1 more fish in the future.

Thank you for any and all suggestions - Looking forward to sharing in some discussions with all of you.

Attached are some pics of my tank

 

[thegrun]

1. If you have good circulation with no dead flow spots it sounds like the powerheads are in a good location now. A few areas of lower flow are good to have since some corals and fish prefer lower flow.
2. I would advise quarantining any new fish you add to your tank or you risk passing on a disease to all your fish. By the time the new fish has gone through a quarantine it will be fine to add. I would also attach your corals to the rocks, most can be glued on with superglue gel.
3. I like the rockwork a lot, but it looks like the rocks are either touching or very close to the side walls. This will make it nearly impossible to clean the algae off the sides of the tank close to the rocks. If you are okay with that you can leave it alone, otherwise I would keep the rocks at least 3" off the side walls. If the rocks are unstable they need to be secured, either with two part epoxy of drilling and doweling the rocks with acrylic rods (or pieces plastic coat hangers which are not quite as strong but easier to acquire).
4. Yes auto feeders work for most types of food. I usually hand feed while I'm at home and set up the auto feeder while we are away on vacation, but I know some reefers who use auto feeders on a regular basis. I use a battery operated Eheim auto feeder, but the new Apex feeders are nice, although expensive. I set my auto feeder to feed three times a day while we are away. Most fish are fine with once a day feedings, but nearly all do better with multiple small feedings throughout the day.
5. While another skimmer wouldn't hurt anything other than use more electricity, it probably isn't needed at this time. If you see your nitrates or phosphates start to increase I would then either add a second skimmer or get a larger skimmer like a Tunze 9006 or 9012.

Best of luck with the new tank!

 

[KMS.Kyle]

Ah - I have them leaning against the glass for support - but I see what you mean, there is no way I can clean behind it without taking it apartment.. Hmmm - would you suggest taking a day to take it apart and drill holes as mentioned? I'm sure it would save me in the future as well as allow me to build it a bit higher.

 

[thegrun]

Yes I would ether cement or drill and add rods if it were my tank, you will be glad you did in the long run.

 

[KMS.Kyle]

OK, sounds good - Do you suggest leaving the fish in? also - my sleeper head goby may make this interesting as he hides under the rocks when scared..

 

[thegrun]

You should be able to take the rocks out of the tank to drill them without any issues, just be careful when you put the rocks back into the tank. Also be careful as you remove the rocks that no fish are hiding inside the holes in the rock.

 

[KMS.Kyle]

I'm almost certain that my firefish goby is going to hide inside his rock.. One of them has a deep cave network inside and when I bought the tank we actually suspected that he had died or got crushed because he was missing..

We transferred the rock to pails waiting and he must have been without water for 30 seconds at LEAST as we filled the bucket and he survived.. So I highly doubt he won't dive in there.