My 55 gallon mix reef tank

[tony53176]

Ok here is my 55 gallon tank, its been up and running for about 5 days now.

all the rock is dry pukani rock purchased from BRS and the sand is all live sand, I added about 4 pieces of live rock to seed the tank.

so far my last test has shown:
Ammonia - 2.0ppm
Nitrite - between 0.5 and 1.0ppm
Nitrate - between 0 and 3.0 ppm

I would like to keep this thread going as a sort of journal and will post more pictures in the near future.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/010.jpg

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/009.jpg

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/008.jpg

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/007.jpg

[Oldcabin]

Looks nice.
I have a 55 as well that is about 3 months old.
Nice job with the aquascape, I know it can be a PITA in the 55.
Subscribed!

[tony53176]

Thanks!
Yeah I'll tell ya I got a lot more rock than I expected and it was a PITA to fit it all in the tank but I thought over all it came out looking fairly good.

Right now I'm pretty much just playing the waiting game :D

[Thisseemsfishy]

Looks good. Take your time and it will reward you

[ZR1001]

Very nice! I like the aquascape.

[tony53176]

thanks guys.

While I'm at it, could anyone take a look at the pictures and tell me why the hump of sand on the left side of the tank is two different colors? The top layer is lighter than the bottom layer.

[f3honda4me]

How many pounds of rock did you buy?

[CRC88]

thanks guys.

While I'm at it, could anyone take a look at the pictures and tell me why the hump of sand on the left side of the tank is two different colors? The top layer is lighter than the bottom layer.

That's just a matter of how far down the light penetrates into the sand. The light part is where the light can get to, and the bottom part is beyond its reach for the most part.

It surprised me as well - I thought it would be more of a gradual change, but it seems so abrupt.

[tony53176]

How many pounds of rock did you buy?

I bought 55lbs but they sent me 60lbs, BRS is notorious for sending a little rock than you ordered and the pukani rock is awesome with it being so porous and light

[tony53176]

That's just a matter of how far down the light penetrates into the sand. The light part is where the light can get to, and the bottom part is beyond its reach for the most part.

It surprised me as well - I thought it would be more of a gradual change, but it seems so abrupt.

so I guess thats good then that my lights can penetrate into the sand about 1"?

[CRC88]

so I guess thats good then that my lights can penetrate into the sand about 1"?

It doesn't really matter.Light can only travel in a straight line, so the depth it penetrates is fixed based off of sand particle size. It has nothing to do with the intensity of the light really.

Better indications of your lights are what types of corals / algae your lights grow. That's a much better indicator rather than how far it penetrates into the sand.

[tony53176]

It doesn't really matter.Light can only travel in a straight line, so the depth it penetrates is fixed based off of sand particle size. It has nothing to do with the intensity of the light really.

Better indications of your lights are what types of corals / algae your lights grow. That's a much better indicator rather than how far it penetrates into the sand.

gotcha, good to know

[Bliz]

Nice tank. I have a very similar set up. Been running for a month now. Good luck!

[tony53176]

Nice tank. I have a very similar set up. Been running for a month now. Good luck!

similar!? Almost identical LOL

How long did it take for your tank to cycle? My LFS tells me that I'm close to done but I'm not buying it.

[Bliz]

similar!? Almost identical LOL

How long did it take for your tank to cycle? My LFS tells me that I'm close to done but I'm not buying it.

Im not quite cycled yet. Just added a piece of live rock last week to hopefully get things going. Still registering around .25ppm ammonia.

[Sport507]

similar!? Almost identical LOL

How long did it take for your tank to cycle? My LFS tells me that I'm close to done but I'm not buying it.

Good for you!

It's your tank so you stay in charge of things. You're the one that has something to lose not the LFS.

[Zappo]

Looks like you're off to a great start! I like the aquascaping. It looks like there's lots of room for fish to weave in and out of the rockwork, and lots of places for all the little critters to hang out during the day. What kind of fish are you planning to add?

[tony53176]

Looks like you're off to a great start! I like the aquascaping. It looks like there's lots of room for fish to weave in and out of the rockwork, and lots of places for all the little critters to hang out during the day. What kind of fish are you planning to add?

Honestly I haven't given livestock much thought, my daughter asked me to put an ocellaris clownfish (nemo) in the tank so that will most likely be our first tenant, I would like to have a bubble tip anemone but that won't be put in until at least a year after the tank has been running, a carpenter flasher wrasse, a bi-color blenny and an algae blenny is about all I've come up with so far but to be honest thats probably all I'm going to be putting in there for a while, I would like to have a mandarin but I know that the tank has to be well established to have one of those. I'd also like to have a regal tang and yellow tang but I know that my tank is too small to house those guys, what about a kole yellow eye tang? I'll also have mostly softies and LPS for corals as I don't think that my lights will support SPS.

[Mussin]

Nice looking Tank! The rock is awesome! What light fixture are you using?


Jeremy

[tony53176]

Nice looking Tank! The rock is awesome! What light fixture are you using?


Jeremy

Thanks! its a 4x54 T5 2 10k and 2 420nm actinics

[tony53176]

a little update...

my ammonia remains at 2ppm
nitrites still at 1ppm

I had ordered a reef octopus bh-2000 skimmer from eye poppin corals and they emailed saying that it was no longer available and offered me a free upgrade, so I called customer service and talked to the gentleman there and he talked me into getting the aquamaxx hob-1 skimmer with free shipping. I hope I didn't make a mistake on the skimmer but from all the reviews I've read about the aquamaxx everyone seems to be happy with it so we'll just have to see.

I'll have more updates soon hopefully

[tony53176]

ok day 8 and took my readings for the 5th day in a row, ammonia 2ppm, nitrites 1ppm and nitrates between 0 and 3ppm these readings have been like this every day. I would have thought that the ammonia or nitrites would continue to go up or if I'm seeing nitrates I would have thought that I would see the ammonia and nitrites going down but I'm not. could this be because I am using dry live rock in my tank and its just taking longer for the bacteria to grow? or is there something else going on, I have brand new test kits btw and know that they are good by looking at the lot number

[Zswift]

I got a 55 as well, dont have really cool lights but my.tank had 40lbs of LR and 10 of limestone and it cycled in less than two weeks. its been up for about a month now and still debating on livestock as well. Good luck though!

[tony53176]

Got my refractometer today, man what a difference from the swing arm hydrometer.

My hydrometer is showing 1.026 and the refractometer is showing 1.030, I know the refractometer is correct cause I took some water to my LFS and they tested the salinity as well with their refractometer and it was also 1.030.

And its so much easier to read too, I wish I had bought one a long time ago lol.

No update on the tank though, I will be taking another reading tomorrow, the yellow haze is starting to clear up though so thats a +

[tony53176]

Ok a quick update, I'm not sure how to say this but I figured out this weekend that my 55 gallon tank is actually a 75 gallon tank lol.

The story is that I was at petco this weekend and happened to see a 55 there and thought to myself "wow that looks smaller than my 55" so I went home and measured my tank and went online and sure enough my tank is a 75 gallon. The reason I had no idea is because 1. I had never seen a 55 or 75 gallon tank to compare mine to, 2. The gentleman who I bought from on Craigslist advertised it as a 55 gallon tank.

To me this is a good thing cause it makes me rethink my whole livestock list lol

Also the tank is still cycling we are almost to the end of week 2, Ammonia is between 1 and 0.50 ppm and nitrite is at or above 5ppm but my test card only goes up to 5, but this is all good ammonia is coming down, nitrites are up and should start coming down soon I would think.

[tony53176]

Ok a quick update, I'm not sure how to say this but I figured out this weekend that my 55 gallon tank is actually a 75 gallon tank lol.

The story is that I was at petco this weekend and happened to see a 55 there and thought to myself "wow that looks smaller than my 55" so I went home and measured my tank and went online and sure enough my tank is a 75 gallon. The reason I had no idea is because 1. I had never seen a 55 or 75 gallon tank to compare mine to, 2. The gentleman who I bought from on Craigslist advertised it as a 55 gallon tank.

To me this is a good thing cause it makes me rethink my whole livestock list lol

Also the tank is still cycling we are almost to the end of week 2, Ammonia is between 1 and 0.50 ppm and nitrite is at or above 5ppm but my test card only goes up to 5, but this is all good ammonia is coming down, nitrites are up and should start coming down soon I would think.

[tony53176]

hey guys,

I wanted to post an update on the tank, ammonia is now reading 0 and has been constant for the past 4 days, nitrites are on there way down, they were above 5 on Monday and are down to 2ppm today.

I have come up with a livestock list and would like your opinions on it if at all possible, this list is what I would like to eventually have in the tank and obviously wouldn't go in all at once.

A starting CUC: 20 snails divided between astrea, trochus and cerith, 6 red leg hermit crabs (this is just a starter and would add more snails as I needed them)

Inverts: 2 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp and 1 bubble tip anemone

corals: still thinking about these but I am going to go mostly softies with a few LPS

fish: x2 Ocellaris clown fish, 1 carpenters flasher wrasse, 1 royal gramma basslet, 1 kole yellow eye tang, 1 flame hawkfish, 1 flame angel and once the tank is mature and established I would like to have a red mandarin

so let me know what you guys think of that list, if its too much, too little, just right :D

thanks

[Danzig]

Shut your lights off during cycle you don't need them. light paired with unstable parameters such as that happens while cycling just promotes algae outbreaks. Im assuming you leaving them on, if you just had them on for pictures disregard this post. Looks really good man love the aquascape best of luck.

[tony53176]

Shut your lights off during cycle you don't need them. light paired with unstable parameters such as that happens while cycling just promotes algae outbreaks. Im assuming you leaving them on, if you just had them on for pictures disregard this post. Looks really good man love the aquascape best of luck.

yeah I had those lights on just for the pictures, the lights have been off ever since.

Thanks!!

[xavi_west]

nice looking tank, keep up the good work

[tony53176]

just tested the water in the DT

ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 15-20ppm

I believe that my cycle is finally complete, I plan to continue to ghost feed every other day as if I'm feeding actual fish and check the parameters again on Friday, if all is well I will do a 50% water change and then check again on Sunday or Monday, if all is still well then I will add the CUC.

[Rrudo74901]

I dig the rockwork

I have to agree, rock looks great, not only placement but porosity.

[tony53176]

Hi guys sorry I haven't updated this thread recently.

I would love to post some pics of the tank but it doesn't look all that great at the moment, I have been battling some diatom blooms for the past week and a half but I'm confident that they are starting to die back

all my parameters have been stable and my nitrates have come down to 0 thanks to the chaeto that I added to the tank. I had ordered a 1/4 pound of it from liveaqauria.com and placed it behind the big rock in the middle of the tank, unless you were looking for it you would never see it but its doing wonders for my nitrates :D

I also have purchased some snails from reefcleaners.org to go along with the few snails that I have, so far I have 1 astrea (I lost 2, not sure why) 1 or 2 nassarius ( lost 4 or 5 of these guys I think due to starvation but again not sure) I have over 20 dwarf cerith snails, I love these guys they go everywhere including deep in the pores of my rocks I have 6 nerite snails that seem to do absolutely nothing lol and 5 florida cerith snails these guys took a little while to get motivated but they have done a nice job on the back glass of my tank.

There are two Ocellaris clown fish (Peter and Lois), yes I'm a Family Guy fan and I have 1 coral banded shrimp.

I have an flame hawkfish and a purple dottyback in QT (I just got these guys from liveaquaria.com on Friday so it will be a while before they get introduced to the DT)

so far everything and everyone is doing well, the skimmer is pulling out some nasty stuff everyday too :D

If you guys don't mind looking at some diatoms I'll try and post some pics tonight

[tony53176]

hey guys,

I promised some updated picks and here they are. Bare in mind that the tank is just getting over a diatom bloom which explains the brown in the back...

coral banded shrimp (my daughter has named "stripes")
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/042.jpg

Peter and Lois and stripes
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/038.jpg

Peter and Lois again in a little wider view of the tank
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/037.jpg

more to come soon :D

[Bliz]

Tony,

I've been following your thread as we have almost identical set ups. Your tank is coming along great! Got a couple questions for you...

On what date did you start your tank?
Are you using RODI water?
Did you use any live rock to seed the dry and start the cycle?
Did you quarantine your clowns?

I started my tank exactly 2 months ago so I'm curious about yours for a point of comparison. Thanks and go Pats this week!

[ChitownBrickie]

Tony,

I've been following your thread as we have almost identical set ups. Your tank is coming along great! Got a couple questions for you...

On what date did you start your tank?
Are you using RODI water?
Did you use any live rock to seed the dry and start the cycle?
Did you quarantine your clowns?

I started my tank exactly 2 months ago so I'm curious about yours for a point of comparison. Thanks and go Pats this week!

Me too, I'm just about to get mine up and running. How did yours make out?

[ChitownBrickie]

Ok here is my 55 gallon tank, its been up and running for about 5 days now.

all the rock is dry pukani rock purchased from BRS and the sand is all live sand, I added about 4 pieces of live rock to seed the tank.

so far my last test has shown:
Ammonia - 2.0ppm
Nitrite - between 0.5 and 1.0ppm
Nitrate - between 0 and 3.0 ppm

I would like to keep this thread going as a sort of journal and will post more pictures in the near future.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/010.jpg

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/009.jpg

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/008.jpg

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af187/bruce53176/Aquarium%20Journal/007.jpg

Beautiful set up! Are you still happy with your canister filter? I'm getting ready to get my tank up and going, 55 gallon too, with fluval 406 canister filter, skimmer, etc..

[ChitownBrickie]

Ok a quick update, I'm not sure how to say this but I figured out this weekend that my 55 gallon tank is actually a 75 gallon tank lol.

The story is that I was at petco this weekend and happened to see a 55 there and thought to myself "wow that looks smaller than my 55" so I went home and measured my tank and went online and sure enough my tank is a 75 gallon. The reason I had no idea is because 1. I had never seen a 55 or 75 gallon tank to compare mine to, 2. The gentleman who I bought from on Craigslist advertised it as a 55 gallon tank.

To me this is a good thing cause it makes me rethink my whole livestock list lol

Also the tank is still cycling we are almost to the end of week 2, Ammonia is between 1 and 0.50 ppm and nitrite is at or above 5ppm but my test card only goes up to 5, but this is all good ammonia is coming down, nitrites are up and should start coming down soon I would think.

that's funny, I thought mine was a 75 gallon, but it turned out to be a 55. I like your outcome better, lol