Planning to set up new tank

Congrats on starting your reefing journey! And hello from a native Urbandalian (out in eastern Iowa now).

Heh there are many ways to skin a cat and everyone has there own preferred methods so it's hard to say that there even should be a step by step guide. I'm sure if you have an idea of the type of set up you are looking to run then you will be able to get lots of feedback from members on here. But I would highly recommend to start by figuring out the following:

Tank - A 55g is a great size for starting off in my opinion. There also seem to be some for sale around here pretty often. Have you decided on glass or acrylic? PetCo has a $1/gallon glass tank sale a couple times a year that includes 55 gallon tanks but these are non-drilled tanks. I would highly recommend trying to find a reef ready tank instead of attaching an overflow on the bank to run into your sump. There's too much that can go wrong with hang on overflows.

Stand - There's not typically too much thought into this part.

Sump - You probably want about the largest tank that will fit into your stand as a sump. I always hated dealing with a tiny sump in my old tank and never being able to get equipment in and out of it. You really don't need anything fancy, a container that holds water can function as a sump just fine. The PetCo sale is great for finding a sump.

Lighting - LED is a great choice if you can get over the upfront cost of it. DIY systems are an option but with how affordable AI modules have become I would go with a nice clean finished system over building one yourself now. If you wanted to do softies and LPS corals you could get away with power compacts or high output flourescents and save yourself some money though. Unless you plan on growing SPS corals I'd say you don't need to go the metal halide or LED route.

Skimmer - Don't under invest in the skimmer! I even heard this multiple times and I still did it myself. Especially important if you want to go the SPS route. Don't rely on the rating that skimmers give you either... on my 180g SPS tank I went from a cheap skimmer rated for 300g to a high end skimmer rated for 225g and there was a world of difference. This is something you'll probably want to get some opinions on and do more research on before jumping into a purchase.

Return Pump - Hard to say how much flow you'll need without knowing what the overflow setup is like. Maybe 1,000 GPH for built in overflows and something less for a hang on the back.

Substrate - Live sand or not? Some say there's no way that there can be live bacteria in the bags of sand that sit on store shelves for as long as they do and swear against its use. I decided to use dry sand and then one bag of live sand in hopes of seeding the bed.. who knows if it helped the cycle or not. Some prefer extremely fine sand for sand sifters and its appearance, others prefer a more course substrate that doesn't blow around in a high flow environment (I'm kicking myself for using too fine of a sand by the way).

Rock - People have different preferences for how much rock they want. I'd say at a minimum go for 40 pounds or 100 pounds as a maximum for a 55g tank. 60 or so would probably be a good starting point... you can add more later if you aquascape and think you need more. You may want to get some dry ecorock from BRS and mix it in with live rock from fellow GIRS members.

Flow - You'll want to add some additional flow (especially if you have a lot of rock or are aiming for SPS corals). These are best achieved by the use of a powerhead. Koralia is a pretty common and affordable choice, but try to get a minimum of 25x turnover from powerheads (1,375 gph in a 55g) or around 40x for SPS (2,200 gph). The flow ideally would be random flow rather than a straight stream.

Try to get that stuff figured out first and then once you get all of your equipment and get everything plumbed together then you'll want to do a leak test. Once you're ready to fill you're going to want to use RO/DI water. For a 55g system you're going to be better off getting your own RO/DI system - BRS and Air, Water, and Ice both have very good options. You could also buy RO water from a local fish store but long term that will be a pain and costly. Mix your RO/DI water with your chosen salt mix (a lot of opinions on salt - if it fits in your budget AquaVitro Salinity is a great salt but I'm sure others could also point you to more affordable alternatives). Mix your water to a spacific gravity of around 1.025 or 35 ppt (a refractometer is ideal but a swing arm is probably what all of us start off with).

The mechanics on exactly how to add everything into the tank is up to some variation and discussion... but essentially you are going to want to rinse your sand a bit in RO water to reduce the clouding, then add it into the aquarium first. Some would recommend mixing all of your water in buckets and then adding it into the aquarium after it has reached 1.025 (this would be necessary if you used live sand), others would say you're okay to go ahead and add RO water straight to the tnak and get systems running and then add the salt directly into the tank (the first option is probably better but I've gotten away with the lazy second method just fine). Either way you're going to want to cover the sand with a sheet of plastic to keep it from kicking up excessively. Keep in mind that a good amount of the water is going to be displaced by rock - probably around 10-15g or so in your case. Aquascape the rock in a way that avoids dead spots all the way around the sides within the tank and throughout the rock work and still allows you plenty of surface area for adding corals to it (yes this is tricky and frustrating). For extra credit you can use zip ties through holes in the rock to bind them together to avoid avalanches.. other options are rods or underwater epoxy. Add the powerheads in places that help avoid these deadspots - you'll likely move them around once you figure out where junk starts to collect in your tank.

If you had a lot of live rock then you're tank should start cycling by itself. If not you'll want to introduce some kind of ammonia source - a few cocktail shrimp should do the trick. Let your skimmer and other equipment run (lights aren't necessary though) and monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. You should start off with high ammonia, which will eventually get converted to nitite, and finally nitrate. After the first big ammonia spike start doing some 15g water changes each week. You can speed up the cycle by giving your bacterial colony a boost with bacterial additives like Special Blend (should be able to get at PetCo or Petsmart). Once ammonia and nitrites are 0 and nitrates are down to 20 ppm or lower you will want to add your cleanup crew (lights should be on by now). Liveaquaria has some decent info on starting points for a cleanup crew.. I'd say 30-40 dwarf hermits, 20 turbo snails, and 1 serpent star would probably suffice. You may want to consider adding burrowing snails at some point but this isn't urgent right out of the gates. Continue monitoring your levels and checking in on GIRS to share your progress and after a week or two after adding your cleaners you can add a hardy fish (clowns are reasonable first choices) and maybe a cleaner shrimp or two. Certain corals are a lot more demanding on specific levels so let's hold off on even talking down that path until we get some other steps out of the way and get a better idea of exactly what types of coral you even want.

That should give you a good starting point - and a bunch of material for other members to debate about! I'm sure I am missing things and there's plenty of items that could be elaborated on so definitely ask around before following what I said step by step! Keep your progress and thoughts flowing on here and you'll be bound to get some good feedback.

Best of luck and keep us posted!

 

Gah... didn't even mention anyting about a heater. I'd recommend going with two undersized titanium heaters.. this helps in case one gets stuck on or dies. Two 100w heaters should be plenty. Aim for a water temperature of around 78 to start... you can tweek to your desired temp as you find out what you prefer.

 

If your planning to run this tank for a long time i would seriously consider a tank in the 75 90 or 120 range. A 55 limits you on alot of aquascaping options. I would go with a 120 rr 2 ft deep and 2ft wide. Plenty of room for rockwork and room for fish to swim.

 

I couldn't agree more with Jason, a standard 55 gallon would not be ideal for a reef tank if you want live rock and an assortment of corals. When picking a size, look at what type of fish and corals do you really want to keep. If you don't care about having tangs, or other fish that need a lot of swimming room, you might consider getting a tank that is more cube-shaped but still plenty wide enough for rock sculptures and coral.
Could you keep rock/corals in a 55? Of course, but you would be very limited in the structures you could create with the rocks and it would be very difficult to have any room in the tank to clean the glass and allow adequate room for the corals to grow. If there's not enough room between the glass and the corals, you will not be able to reach your hand in to clean the glass and pick things up that fall in or get knocked over which will be inevitable no matter how careful you are.
In my experience, it's best to not have any rocks within a minimum of 6" from the glass that you plan on being able to view the tank through (I prefer being able to look through the front and at least one of the sides of a tank).

 

Double Post!

 

+2 on what Jason said.  Usually it is wise to start with the largest tank and sump one can afford(there are many reasons)...this hobby is addictive and, most people start out small and then upgrade to a larger system within a year or so because it's just too small, etc.../DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif  I might add that choosing a skimmer before buying a stand and sump is often times wise as well.  You'll want to make sure that the skimmer will fit in the sump(if you go with an insump model) and under the stand.  If you start out with a smaller system (and don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a smaller one) and later you want to go larger, then you will need to buy larger/higher rated equipment.


Happy reefing!

 

When talking fish tanks, smaller is harder than larger to maintain water quality. Things can swing out of control much faster

 

+1 on size. A 55 gallon is very narrow. Also with a four foot tank you would need two led fixtures.  Personally, I would go with  a 40 breeder over a 55. It has a wider profile which lends itself to better aquascaping and more room for coral growth.  Also, you would only need 1 led fixture if you went that route. Whatever you do, try to get a sump, it adds system volume, makes water changes easier, and allows a place for equipment= less clutter in main tank.  When I first started in saltwater I made all the rookie mistakes. A person really needs to decide how serious they are about this hobby.  If its truly something you are committed to, you should be willing to invest in equipment first and livestock secondly.  By no means am I trying to dissuade you, I just wish someone had opened my eyes to the true cost of this addictive hobby.  It cost is the main factor, you could do a fish only with live rock system. That would keep lighting cost down. It's also much easier to keep. Less importance on cal., Alk, and other element levels. There a some beautiful fish for fish only systems. But as is the case with many of us, it becomes the corals that are the real addiction. Whatever you decide good luck!

 

Cant wait to see some pics. Are you planing on doing HoB stuff? I had great success with a good HoB skimmer and a simple bio wheel filter to run carbon on my 55.

 

I planing a build using a 55 as a sump/refugium and having a 40 breeder as a frag tank with my 29 dr plumed into it to