give me an opinion - 55 gallon

[Tentacles]

Hello all.

Im mostly active in the Pico reef forum, Ive been working on my 2g and its cycling now. Anyway, I have a question for all the large reef owners:

 

I have a 55 gallon freshwater and I like keeping it but the fish just eat my plants and it looks ugly and its not too incredibly entertaining anymore. So Ive been contemplating changing this tank over to a sw reef tank perhaps, and get a few fish since I cant really keep any in a 2g haha. Im curious of two things mostly, If I do this it would probably be in several months or next school year when I have to move again. About how much money should I be saving up to get the transition complete? how much will this all cost? and 2: can I use any of my current equipment. Really all I have on the tank is the heater and the filter, my fish dont require alot and are pretty clean. I have the Penguin Bio Wheel 350 for up to 75 gallons and the Visi-Therm Stealth 250w heater, which is amazing, i just set it on the dial to the temp I want and its just there, all the time no matter what. Can I use either of these in the SW? I know I will need a few powerheads and a skimmer but can these also work in the tank?

 

Any info comments and suggestions very appreciated.

Thanks!

[NaNo ChUnK]

First off if its a 55gallon long i would sell it to get something deeper.IMO b/c you can work with the rock alot more and the livestock wont look at crowded. But you would definently would need a protein skimmer. Most of the time with people with sw tanks have a sump/fuge. I would just use a 20gal long as a sump/fuge and put ur protein skimmer, heater on it and add carbon to the hang on filter you got and u should be fine unless you over stock.

i think you would need probably $1000 for all the euipment needed. and thats with all the name brand and great equipment

[dragonfly72]

Hello all.

Im mostly active in the Pico reef forum, Ive been working on my 2g and its cycling now. Anyway, I have a question for all the large reef owners:

 

I have a 55 gallon freshwater and I like keeping it but the fish just eat my plants and it looks ugly and its not too incredibly entertaining anymore. So Ive been contemplating changing this tank over to a sw reef tank perhaps, and get a few fish since I cant really keep any in a 2g haha. Im curious of two things mostly, If I do this it would probably be in several months or next school year when I have to move again. About how much money should I be saving up to get the transition complete? how much will this all cost? and 2: can I use any of my current equipment. Really all I have on the tank is the heater and the filter, my fish dont require alot and are pretty clean. I have the Penguin Bio Wheel 350 for up to 75 gallons and the Visi-Therm Stealth 250w heater, which is amazing, i just set it on the dial to the temp I want and its just there, all the time no matter what. Can I use either of these in the SW? I know I will need a few powerheads and a skimmer but can these also work in the tank?

 

Any info comments and suggestions very appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Here is my opinion..hope you get many more:

 

Your penguin would work fine, but remove the bio wheel. I use a HOB filter for a water surface break and to put carbon or filtering media in when needed.

 

Your heater will work great.

 

I personally do not use a skimmer and my tanks do great, but many people do.

 

You will need live rock. Should be 1 lb per gallon of water for optimum filtration but you can always start out with less. You can use base rock (cheaper) on the bottom and use live rock on the top layers to seed the rest in time.

 

You will need sand if you go with a sand substrate. Don't use crushed coral...nitrate heaven!!

 

You will need a powerhead.

 

You will need lights. The wattage will depend on what types of coral you want in there. If you will have just fish then the wattage can be lower.

 

You will need a cleanup crew...very important.

 

That is all that I have on my tanks and they do great but there are many more options out there if you have the money.

 

 

Good Luck!

[Tentacles]

so ive kind of had an idea formulate for this 55g

 

i know im not going to have a huge budget, so all the fancy equipment and sump will have to wait, if they ever exist at all. I thought it would be cool to set it up to try and breed clowns, maybe my maroon- that would be tough

 

i was thinking use my heater, and get two ac30/70s one on each end and make them fuges, and add surface skimmer mods to both of them so they can do double duty, and have 2 powerheads in there. - mayyybe use the penguin for surface break or something but that thing isnt that great, ill prob just sell it off

 

i sort of thought it woul be cool to put a divider in the middle of the tank, sort of like having 2 22.5g tanks next to each other, but the divider would have some holes, very small so the water could flow through the whole tank, maybe a giant overflow wall type of thing, and have a powerhead in each side and an AC in each side and put the heater somewhere in the middle.......annnd try to keep a pair of clowns on each side, no other fish, maybe a perc pair/occ on one side and a maroon on the other, and eventually drill holes and rig up my 10g aga as the baby raisin tank with an ac20 in it and run it to the 55g? whho knows right now but im getting the clownfishes book by wilkerson and im getting into clowns alot lately, id love to breed sometime next year when im moved and settled in

 

clown breeders out there? maybe just one pair of maroons in a 55 would be best idea, that will be hard tho

[Tentacles]

any thoughts?

 

maybe i could add my 10g aga as a sump, but i have no idea how to rig up that plumbing and what chamver is what, anyone got good info on sump how-to?

 

thanks

[Tentacles]

well im scrapping the 55 and goin with this 75 perhaps....this hobby is addicting to the point of ####### me and my wallet off

 

i found a guy in town on a local classified and hes selling me this for $250, look like an ok deal?

 

heres his description: ''It would come with the refugium, VHO's stand and hood. I think there is a heater. I can not vouch for the pump. That tank has been broken down for a while. It has some base rock and sand. It has been kept with about 6 inch of water so I could keep the sand alive. It also comes with the overflow.''

 

pics: all seen is included:

 

 

[wav3form]

well im scrapping the 55 and goin with this 75 perhaps....this hobby is addicting to the point of ####### me and my wallet off

 

i found a guy in town on a local classified and hes selling me this for $250, look like an ok deal?

 

heres his description: ''It would come with the refugium, VHO's stand and hood. I think there is a heater. I can not vouch for the pump. That tank has been broken down for a while. It has some base rock and sand. It has been kept with about 6 inch of water so I could keep the sand alive. It also comes with the overflow.''

 

pics: all seen is included:

 

 

I think you can do better than that for the money.

[Tentacles]

any sales to point me toward? all around town here people are wanting 300 bucks for just a tank and I know getting a lighting fixture for a 75 new would cost at least $200 so I thought it was an ok deal, but maybe there are better ones.

[nanospoof]

Dosn't sound like to bad of a deal to me. See if you can get it for 200 or 225. If not I don' think 250 is to bad for what you have pics of.

[ZeRo 91]

Dont know what wav3form is talking about but $250.00 for that set up seems like a steal! I would get it. Although it will take some love and care to get the tank to a 'show' quality I say its well worth the $250, go for it!

[akslope]

Dont know what wav3form is talking about but $250.00 for that set up seems like a steal! I would get it. Although it will take some love and care to get the tank to a 'show' quality I say its well worth the $250, go for it!

 

Here in Alaska a 29gl goes for $150 without a stand so I would love to find a deal like that here. I have a line on a 55gl tank only for FREE!!!!! Im gonna scoop that one up even if I dont have a place for it right now.

[Tentacles]

well i got it, itll be hanging out in my parents house until i move next year to a more permanent place here at VCU

 

i agree itll have alot of work needed but its a good start, his sump design looks a bit weird ill have to check that out more, anyone got any good protein skimmer suggestions?