My 55g 2.0

So I have been dragging my feet on starting my thread here because it seemed it was going to take me forever before I was up and running.

I had a 55g a few years back which ended with a move in which everything died. Central Missouri was not a good place to be in the saltwater hobby.

So I decided instead of my 55 hob set up like last time, I wanted to do things differently and run a sump/refugium and hopefully make my life a little easier when trying to keep coral alive.

So still going with a 55g dt and have a 35g sump. I have around 110lbs of live rock and 40lbs of sand. I am experimenting with miracle mud in the fuge and have a little ball of chaeto algae courtesy of civiccars2003 and a few pounds of live rock in there as well. Right now I have some bioballs but am thinking about pulling them out because I know I don't want to dig them out and clean them weekly. I have a pathetic little skimmer from my old tank that is hardly worth mentioning. Running a JBJ ATO. Will be more than likely running one mainland powerhead as a circulation pump until I can get something better. As far as lighting fits a have a 4x t5 built into my canopy with some old bulbs in dire need of replacement before any coral hits the water.

As far as livestock goes, I introduced 2 mocha clowns in today also courtesy of civiccars2003. I put in am order today from reefcleaners.org for snails.

Pictures will follow shortly. And if anyone has any questions or suggestions or if I forgot anything, let me know. Always glad to hear feedback.

 

Someone is well on there way to a nice build. Patiently waiting pictures.

 

this is how it looks now. hopefully some color will come in soon

here is my sump as it is now. gonna remove the bio balls and maybe put some pieces of LR in their place. Have heard it is not as easy as just taking bioballs out without creating problems. any suggestions with this are appreciated.

 

You can remove the bioballs.You have enough rock in the tank.Adding more to the sump is not necessary.

 

So just remove them all at once? I have seen it mentioned that you should do 1/4 at a time? I don't know the validity of this but it said it could create an ammonia spike removing all at once.

 

You can remove all the bio balls in one shot, shouldn't be an issue.

 

tank looks great! I'm glad someone was able to pick up the mocha clowns - you picked a nice pair to have! Looking forward to your progress! It sounds like you have a good plan in place and that you're aware of corrections you need to make (new bulbs, upgrade skimmer).

 

I would be cautious and remove a little at a time.It is possible that an ammonia and or nitrite spike could occur if all are removed at once.

 

Nice start! Your aquascape looks great.I would make upgrading your bulbs sooner rather than later to avoid algae problems.

 

Welcome back to the addictio...ahh hobby! The tank looks great so far, cant wait to see more pics once it progresses.