Zjpeter's 50g, back in action

in anticipation for my move back to Iowa, i tore the tank down and sold all the livestock. what i didn't foresee was how easy it is to procrastinate reinvesting or how easy it is to convince yourself that a tank just sounds like more work. before i knew it, i was out of the game for more than a year. this is totally unacceptable. i have therefore dug all my gear up out of the basement and am well underway. cruising the old forums and planning the tank feels good. i'm glad to be back, i missed you all. anyway, down to business...

the equipment hasn't changed:
50g column
150 HQI (Current fixture/Phoenix 14k bulb)
Fluval canister
phosphate reactor
2 Koralia 2 pumps
1 Koralia 1 pump
AquaC Remora skimmer

however, i'm debating what to do next. i sank a lot of money into the reef to make it look like this


but i don't know if i can go through all that again especially if the Mrs and i are going to start a family (fingers crossed). so here's where i could use a little help sorting my options.

OPTION ONE:
stick to the existing setup
pair of Ocellaris
yellow headed jawfish or diamond goby/some other bottom guy
red strip angelfish or coral beauty
6line wrasse
with the possiblility of getting back into zoas and LPS

OPTION TWO:
change up lighting to LED (for heat reasons)
seahorses (h. erectus)
planted tank

seahorses sound wicked cool right now but i know they can be a bit of work and i'm thinking ease of operation is the main factor here.

and if i remember correctly, it's illegal to post without pictures so i'll leave you with the current state of my rockscape for constructive criticism

 

Welcome back first of all. It is illegal to post w/o pics lol, thanks for remembering. I would go with

OPTION ONE:
stick to the existing setup
pair of Ocellaris
yellow headed jawfish or diamond goby/some other bottom guy
red strip angelfish or coral beauty
6line wrasse
with the possiblility of getting back into zoas and LPS

I would re-think the six line wrasse and the coral beauty though. Six line's can be very mean and the coral beauty may nip at your corals.

 

i'd actually never heard that about 6lines. we've had them before with no problems. it's not my choice though, my wife will let me sink any amount of money into a tank as long as it has her 6line.

does anyone have any info on a red stripe angel over a coral beauty?

 

My $.02, a new faamily/baby = no sleep, alot of work and money! And some testy parents! While i'm not sure of how much work a seahorse tank is, I'm thinking start easy and upgrade as life settles down after another new edition! The last thing you'll want to do, when the new babe actually sleeps is constantly work on an aquarium! Just my opinion! Congrats on the return no matter which way ya go!

 

while the process may seem to be moving along at glacial speeds, rejoice! for there is water in my tank! it took all day to run enough water through my RODI but i'm in business.

now, i'm in a pickle about cycling. i've got dry rock from ReefCleaners and i don't know any local reefers so i'm wondering how to start up my bacteria. if i toss a shrimp in there will the cycle start, or is there no bacteria to work with?

is there any use in the bottled bacteria or, since i need more sand anyway, would buying some of that "live" sand do any good?