My 55 Gallon Tank

[Hpimichael02]

hey guys ,

so after about 1-1/2 months of having a 10G salt nano tank i was getting frustrated about what i c an and cant put in their. so after a couple of weeks search and complaing my wife finally gave in and convinced her dad to give his old 55G tank with a HOB filter and basic lights.

what my plans are:

modify the single T12 Bulb hood into a 2 T5 bulb fixture for each hood- 60watts total
modify the aqua tech 30/60 power filter into a fuge(300Gph) or mini sump
modify another aquatech 30/60 power filter into a phostpate/carbon/ filter floss filter.
2 koralia nano 425(were bought for x-mas for use in my 10 G and salt mixer)
30LBS live rock and 25-30LBS dry rock

eventually:
add a Koralia evo 1440 powerhead, and two Koralia evo 550 powerhead in combo with the 2 nano 425 with the hydor smart wave controller. to make an effect tidal motion or a wave motion.

i will be starting to put this together in the next couple of days when i get my live rock, and will add the dry rock later as it has nothing to die off or harm the cycle.

a pic of the tank:

[Hpimichael02]

teh substrate will be crushed coral a total of 40 lbs

[Hpimichael02]

just got my 40LBS of dry rock placed into the tank. 5lbs of live rock, not much but it will do the job i suppose. i will be getting 15-20 more pounds of rock, thats all the store had at the time.

[icefreeze57]

sounds cool!

[Cliff]

Will the extra rock that you mentioned you will be adding be live rock or dry rock ?

If you only go with 5 lbs of live rock to start, just remember to stock extremely slowly while the rest of the dry rock becomes live.

[Hpimichael02]

Yea I gonna stock one fish every three weeks or so, it's gonna be more dry rock,

I have been looking into other options for lighting , what would be considered to much light for any kind of tank?

[Cliff]

If you just want a FOWLR, no corals what so ever, then just get some actinic bulbs for the fixture you currently have in the hood / lids currently on the top of your tank.

Best budget option for a FOWLR, IMO, and should still give you enough lighting for viewing the fish and brining out their colors.

If you want to add corals later on, then I would suggest a 4 bulb T5HO fixture with: 1 actinic, two superblue, and one 12000K white bulb.

[hockeyhead019]

4 bulb T5's won't break the bank and you'll be able to do softies when you get bit by the bug... trust me it'll happen unless you have fish in there that will just eat the corals haha

However if you aren't looking to get a new lighting fixture right now as Cliff said grab some actinic blue bulbs since that'll help promote the coralline algae growth and BB growth

[Hpimichael02]

Im gonna stick with the factory lights and switch them, how ever I most likely will switch to a t5 setup around tax time lol

The light isn't bad but so far so good

[icefreeze57]

sweet! are you just taking your nano reef and putting it in the big tank? or doing both?