Dream 55g

[Yuri]

Alright, my marine class at school is going to be setting up a 55g tank and to gather ideas the teacher gave us the project to design our own dream tank. Money is not much of an issue since the school (prep money leech) will be paying within reason. Almost everyone in the class has no idea about tanks in general so it's very likely she'll actually go with this plan... so help me out!

I'm having trouble going from a nano reef frame set to a large reef.

Goal: Soft and hard coral centered reef tank.

 

I was thinking maybe the Tek Light 48" 4 lamp T5-HO Fluorescent Light Fixture 216watts

Eheim-JAGER TS Heater - 250 watt

Sybon HD Refractometer - FG100sa

Kent Marine 35gpd Hi-S RO/DI Unit

AquaC Remora HOT Skimmer w/RIO 800 pump

Coralife Battery Operated Digital Thermometer

Mag-Float Magnent

Salifert Calcium Test

Salifert Phosphate Test

Salifert kH/Alkalinity

2 Bio-Sea Marinemix 50g Bag

2 Maxijet 900 Powerhead

Maxijet 600 Powerhead (salt mixing)

AquaFuge External hang-on refugium with powerhead 25"L x 4.5"W x 12"T: 120

100 pounds Fiji Cured Live rock

About 1 inch sand?

 

Any help would be appreciated! Any favorites on fish?

[andre]

Ditch the 2 MJ 900's..and get 2 Seios.

[p.o.t.u.s]

If money is no object:

 

Go 6 bulbs for the tek.

 

Plumb for a sump

 

Get a monster skimmer

 

Get a OM Supersquirt for a closed loop

 

Ca Reactor

[SoCal Reefer]

I look after my marine bio classes 150 its preety sweet i dont have to do anything and il still get an A for cleaning it

[Travis]

Obviously my parents sent me to the wrong high school district, is this high school or college?

 

I like the way potus thinks, be sure to get a phosphate reactor as well.

[Perpetual98]

First off, ditch the 55 and get a 75 or a 90. Much more room for aquascaping.

[Yuri]

Thanks for the replies!

Unfortunately we're stuck with the tank since it's donated. And yeah, it's high school. They just added this marine bio class this year.

I'll switch to the seios and get the phosphate and calcium reactors. You don't think the 6 bulbs would be too much on some of the softies?

And what would I need to plumb for a sump?

[Ryan_H]

go with 2 single hang on overflows, a pvc spray bar that runs the full length of the tank that has holes drilled every 3 inches alternating between a 10 degree angle toward the back of the tank and a 45 degree angle toward the front of the tank fed by a mag 18 and a 30 gallon refugium with a proclear 150 protein skimmer. get 2 seio 620's for additional water flow, and a visi-stealth 250 for heat. paint the entire background of the tank and the in-tank portion of the overflow boxes, as well as the spraybar black with krylon fusion. add about 80 lbs of kaellini live rock and enough carib-sea indo-pacific black sand for a 1" sand bed.