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View Full Version : Buying a 55 gal FOWLR


drewpate
06/12/2011, 04:35 AM
Im getting a good deal on craigslist on a 55 gallon with 70 lbs of live rock, overflow and sump with a stand, skimmer, a powerhead, sand, heater and some other misc. Items. Only two fish, a 3 stripe damsel and a clownfish. Also a 250 watt mh light.

From what I've gathered for the move I need new sand (too much disrubtance in the bed) a large icechest and towels for the rock, a five gallon buckets for the fish (I'm planning on bagging them and floating in the bucket and getting a local petshop to put oxygen in, if I can't find one to do that then use two seperate five gallon buckets with holes in the top.

At home I need a big container or tradhcan to mix enough sw in, a powerhead and heater for the water, and something to measure salinity with and sand.

The process should be, take fish out and put in bucket take live rock and drain water into the icechest covering with wet towels, drain down the tank as mich as possible. Either make a beeline to fish store for oxygen or go straight home (around an hour)
Get home, remove sand, add my own with a little leftover to seed. Fill with water from icechest and my own sw, put in rock, plumb the sump in (I'll worry about getting skimmer functional afterwards, then float the fish while slowly adding sw to the bag every fifteen minutes.

If I don't use the bags how shhould I acclimate? Just putting sw in to the bucket till it's mostly sw?


Is there anything that I missed and should be concerned with? I'd hate to lose the fish but they aren't why I'm buying the deal (didn't know about it till i emailed the poster) but I really am going to try my best to get them acclimated well. ill get a clean up crew a couple of days after the move assuming normal tests

How long should I have this running with cuc before adding any livestock? Should I let it mature awhile after testing normal just to make sure? I'm in no rush since I'll be slightly cash strappedfor awhile afterwards. Next purchase will be a decent rodi filter and depending upon what kind of skimmer it comes with a new one, followed by a diy rubbermaid refugium if I feel the need. Possibly another powerhead for flow.

Any advice is greatly appreciated as this is my first sw tank and my first of any tank in a long time.
Ps it will be a reef tank after the move which is why I jumped at 55 gallons with 70 lbs of rock with nice coralline growth on it already.

jlong11
06/12/2011, 08:02 AM
i would take the fish to a lfs then go from there set the tank up and take your time let it cycle and establish its a process and patience is key i know u said your in no rush but it is benificial to let your tank establiah for around 3 months before adding coral and such even longer for certain kinds i would try to keep your bio-load down since u want coral soft lps or sps doesnt matter but the important thing is u want to keep your nitrates and phosphates in check then get ahold of your cal alk and mag once u have a good grip on those i would say u could proceed it would be a good idea to get your cuc based on the idea that u want a reef tank as some of the "cuc" could harm a reef tank i would recomend setting up a QT and at least let your tank run with no fish for 8-10 weeks so the ick would be non existant and start off on the right track then when u get new livestock u could quarantine them and keep pests and ick out of the tank look into lighting as you would need a littel different lighting for each type of coral but its a good start to know what helps and makes them grow 50,000 actinic bulbs are recomended running the peak 465nm-485nm and 6500k runs a good peak of the yellow and white peaks but anywhere from 6500k - 14000k would be a good combo to start generally if u want different things and are unsure just ask and people will help im sure

jayk198030
06/12/2011, 08:25 AM
i have moved plenty of tanks with LR, fish, Sand, and corals. it sounds like your off to a good start. Once your are done setting up tank and SW salinity is where you want i would put in the fish. You should not have to add oxygen to the water for the fish for sometime. and if that's a concern of yours than use a air pump w/ air stone.

i would also take as much of the old water as possible from the old setup to.

if this is a running tank than cycling should not be that bad but its going to happen.

jinks
06/12/2011, 12:32 PM
The oxygen seems like over kill but if your not sold on the fish your lfs might take them for store credit. That would let you get everything running right and you could then have a little to spend on fish you really want.

drewpate
06/14/2011, 10:39 PM
Alright I decided to nix the 02 and just use two five gallon buckets for the fish. I went to do and got salt a container for water, heater thermometer, and powerhead and made up around 30 gallons of water to age. I'm going to get sand on Friday, hopefully be lucky enough to find the home depot caribsea or w/e it's called and seed it with a cupful of the old sand. If not I'll wait and go bb until I can get cheap sand. Is that a bad idea?