Picture updates on my first 55 gallon saltwater tank!

[KMS.Kyle]

Everything's going great so far - Although I'm really dreading moving my rock around / drilling holes and locking it into place with dowels... Going to hold off as long as possible on this..

I'm curious - Does anyone think I'm able to (if done correctly) Build the shelves up one layer higher? I mean, I think if I pulled the rock forward a bit and made it more of a shelf leaning backwards, I may be able to and I want more room to play with.

Hope everyone likes the setup so far - Been working so hard!

This is my first ever saltwater tank (which I purchased from a couple 2 weeks ago, it was 8 months old - Came with the fish, rock and a stock light (and some corals - Some of which seemed dead but 2/3 of them have come back to life and are starting to get color and the hammer/frogspawn are thriving and growing so fast under their kessil!) - Upgraded everything and followed the guides on this forum and here we are today!

In the tank -
2 Clownfish
1 Firefin
1 Sleeperhead Goby
1 Fairy Wrasse
1 PJ Cardinal

Also curious - I was thinking of adding a cleaner shrimp and an urchin - Do they effect the bio load much?

Also - Has anyone had any luck using something other than an anemone to host in for my clowns?

Thank you for all the help so far!

 

[Waters40]

Tank looks great....I like the aquascaping. You can always go higher with the rocks as long as they are secured. The cleaner shrimp and urchin will add very little to your bioload. Yes, there are MANY corals that clownfish will use...often to the dismay of the coral. Torch, hammers, duncans, etc are all pretty common.

 

[Bent]

your aquascaping owns mine.


nice

 

[Ejazzle]

Tank looks good! I wouldn't change anything.

One of my friend's clownfish hosts a big mushroom.

I think you can take it up a little higher on the right side of the tank if you wanted to.

A cleaner shrimp and urchin would be fine. Just watch the urchin though, mine was eating my live rock

 

[KMS.Kyle]

Thanks everyone for the compliments and tips Much appreciated.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

I like it too. Good luck with it.

 

[igadget56]

Looks damn good for 55

 

[Dkuhlmann]

It looks very nice. One suggestion I think your hammer would do better lower in the tank with less light and less flow. It looks nice where it is but it will open up a lot more if you were to do this. Give it a try and see how it reacts, you can always move it back.

 

[Deftones2015]

Looks good man! Should be fine with urchin and cleaner shrimp. With the urchin though make sure your rock is secure because they can potentially knock rocks over.

 

[Bent]

I have two small pincushion urchins in my 55, they don't hurt anything.

 

[Chaos1783]

Looking good

 

[Mark9]

Great aqua-scaping.
Really like the rock work.
Saying that, I would remove that small rock or 2 in the middle that's almost touching the front glass, to free up the sandbed.
Alot of corals like being on the sand, alot.

 

[55mixreef8236]

My clown hosts a Hairy mushroom Coral. I also have 4 urchins in my 55. This is probably a little overkill but they do really well and don't bother anything. I would recommend a pin cushion Urchin if you want one that looks friendly haha.

 

[KMS.Kyle]

Thank you for all the love & advice!!!

I'll post updates soon on how the tank is going/looking!! (So far, so good!)

 

[KMS.Kyle]

Update

Note: I still haven't moved the hammers yet, trying to decide where I want their permanent home to be and glue them down.

(Taking suggestions!)

 

[KMS.Kyle]

Update: moved hammers and got an urchin (Pin)

 

[Mark9]

That looks really good, my hat off to you and your aqua-scaping prowess.
So many people say a 55 can't be done nice, you've proved them wrong.
That's alot of hairy mushrooms, you feed them?

 

[Isaacs55]

Nice looking 55 reef!!!!!

 

[KMS.Kyle]

That looks really good, my hat off to you and your aqua-scaping prowess.
So many people say a 55 can't be done nice, you've proved them wrong.
That's alot of hairy mushrooms, you feed them?

Wow, what an incredible compliment - thank you, that made my day

I definitely did my best to put myself into the mind of a fish and create something both engaging for them and anyone viewing - though, on that note - I have since cleaned the glass a lot better on the back but I'm definitely going to see issues in the future scrubbing behind the rocks that are against the glass.


As for the hairy mushrooms - I bought that rock and it came with them and they've opened up beautifully - I use "Fuel" by aquavitro and stay ahead on my weekly water changes with Redsea Coral-Pro Salt - that's about it for now.

 

[KMS.Kyle]

I noticed a bit of sand fell on top of my rock during the cleanup yesterday - is it a high priority to get it off using my turkey baster or is it not an issue? (Notice around the middle coral - (On that note: Does anyone know the exact ID of it? Is it a button coral? I keep thinking its a zoa)

Also - I was wondering - I've noticed that my Goby & Wrasse are best friends - Has anyone else heard of behaviors like this? They follow each other, rub up against each other, hunt together, swim in like an acrobatic dance at times..