NEED HELP WITH MY 55g tank

yea is it best to get more live rocks or what

 

Anytime you add or remove LR or sand from your system you run the risk of at least a mini cycle. Are you getting cured LR? Because if it is not fully cured there will be an ammonia spike.

 

+1^^. At this point, is recommend you cycle the rocks in a bucket for several weeks. Use a power head and an air supply and change water weekly. The for of from the rock can cause an ammonia spike. Very bad for the fish.

 

ok so what kind of rocks should i get

 

You need calcium carbonate based rocks, not silicate based rock. My guess is that unless you live near the coast or a limestone quarry, most of the rocks around your home will be silicate based. You can buy "live" rock online or at some lfs. With what you have done so far, I would recommend buying dry rock and adding a piece at a time for a few weeks. Do not add all of it at once as that will likely cause another cycle, although I do have doubts as to whether you cycle finished the first time. Without testing regularly, it's really impossible to know. I started off with a very similar set up as you. 55 gallon, HOB filters, HOB skimmer etc. While it can work, it is not ideal for salt water. I ended up doing a full blown sump with refugium. Take it slow. I know there is a desire to have it all done quickly, but if you take a look at the really nice tanks of the members here, they all started bare and built up their livestock over time. If you want a nice tank, don't rush it. It took my tank about 2 years before it started looking like a reef and I ended up with about 90lbs of rock in it. Damsels are good beginner fish, but they can be mean. The order you add your fish is very important as if you had a timid fish now, you run a real risk that the damsels will attack it which could kill it.

To be specific, the next step I would do is either add pre-cured rock, or small amounts of dry rock a little at a time until you have a nice aquascape. You should also be testing regularly for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

 

A lot of good advice ^^^.

 

I think the main thing is we usually add all the rocks and decorations before adding livestock.Its stressfull for you to keep moving rocks around and could damage the biofilm .I would add more dry rock and call it a day.
I don't see any problems adding it all at once considering your biggest need right now is to limit stress and allow the fish to acclimate.Then its just a matter of allowing your tank to find its "balance".I would wait before adding any other fish.

 

What country do you live in sprite?

 

i live in maryland and tomorrow im going to a LFS to get more supplies mostly more rocks lookin at one rock and 4 fish sucks to look at but as you can see my tank is kinda cloudy how can i clear it up some

also the diatoms seem to be dying off sand is looking white again

 

How are you going to treat the rocks?