Dave's 55 Reef (Updated Pics, see last page)

there's a few things to watch with a 55 gallon.its too thin front to back.the rocks come almost to the front glass.so you can't keep many sand loving corals.with rocks covering most of the sand it does'nt get a chance to do as much denitrifying.you can make up for this by making some caves so more water gets a chance to contact sand.you may have 4 feet across but fish need front to back width to swim freely so you need to keep fish size and numbers lower or they will get mean and teritorial.small tanks don't need skimmers,big tanks do,a 55 is in between so you may or may not have to adjust the skimmer alot.if you go with sps corals,that big light may heat your 55 gallons fast.reef readdy 55 gallon tanks that are drilled are hard to find so alot of people get them without overflows and no sump so that makes them harder to maintain 2.breader tanks give much more swimming around room but to few have realized the bennefits of breader tanks so its harder to find equipment that fits them.their 18x18x36inches.so i went to my lfs to get a breader and what did i come home with?a 55 gallon reef readdy for $150 with plumming included.you will find more equipment that fits the 12x48 inch frame.it was just too hard to find the right size fixtures and bulbs and stand and so on for the 50 breader.the smallest easy to care for tank would be a 75 gallon.

 

your right, for the most part. I have made several caves and large openings to make things as open and flowing as possible. You are right about the sand room, unless you want to stack the rock all on one side, then there really isn't much room on the sand bed. The plus sides are its a real nice size for a beginner tank. You have a wide range of fish and corals you can keep, plus it's easy to find equipment. Mine is only about two months old and is already taking shape.

 

My tank has now been up and running for about two months. I have included a full tank pic. I now have three corals, a pink button polyp, fiji leather, and a closed brain. I have three fish, a yellow tailed damsel, a ocellaris clown, and a 6 line wrasse, plus various inverts, snails and hermits. My latest purchase was my closed brain.

 

Another up date...

Tested my parameters again and they are still looking pretty good. Here is what I got, still don't have a Mg test kit.
ammonia- 0ppm
nitrite- 0ppm
nitrate- 0ppm
phosphate- 0ppm
Ca- 360 ppm
temp- 77F
salinity- 1.026

I just got some kent marine Calcium additive to increase my Ca a little. I also went to the lfs and got a nice greenish, striped mushroom, pics coming and a koralia 1 to help my water flow. I have some cyno and want to increase my water flow. Now have well over 1200 gph flowing, 2 maxi jet 1200, 1 koralia 1, a maxi 1200 for my skimmer and my hob filter. Things are dong nicely right, just giving it some time

 

My latest purchase, a nice rock with mushrooms on it

 

Looking good. It's fun to get to the point were we can start trying to mess things up!! Just kidding, keep uo the good work and patience.

 

Nice shroom Guitar....get that Mg test, you're not gonna get your calcium up until you get the Mg up. The two go hand in hand. If one is low, the other will be too and usually bringing up Mg get the Ca up KH too

 

thanks for the advice, just ordered one

 

Ok, for some updates. Got the Mg test kit, mine is about 1200ppm, I bought an additive to get it up a little. Calcium has been upped to about 420ppm. Got my new bubble coral on Friday, love it, looks awesome and my latest fish, jackson, a yellow watchman goby. The first one i bought died because he jumped, fixed that and now he seems to be doing great. Here are some pics.

 

love the watchman goby...we just added a red spotted goby to one of our tanks...