[3LakeAfricanCichlids]

I have a 55 and I am going to put in Tangs. I'm going to put down what I am going to use, and if you could please tell me if I don't need any of this stuff or if there is something I'm missing that would be helpful.
55 gallon with lid and stand.
Light: Ocean Sun Light 10'000K
Protein Skimmer: Red Sea Prizim Deluxe
Power Filter: Whisper 3 30-60 (Don't want a canister).
Salt: Instant Ocean
Carib Sea Sand
Heater: Ebo Jager
Reef Rocks (Not Live)
Elements & Buffer
Background
Veggie Food
Penguin 1130 powerhead

Thank you, 3LakeAfricanCichlids.

[tendar]

Originally Posted by 3LakeAfricanCichlids

I have a 55 and I am going to put in Tangs. I'm going to put down what I am going to use, and if you could please tell me if I don't need any of this stuff or if there is something I'm missing that would be helpful.
55 gallon with lid and stand.
Light: Ocean Sun Light 10'000K
Protein Skimmer: Red Sea Prizim Deluxe
Power Filter: Whisper 3 30-60 (Don't want a canister).
Salt: Instant Ocean
Carib Sea Sand
Heater: Ebo Jager
Reef Rocks (Not Live)
Elements & Buffer
Background
Veggie Food
Penguin 1130 powerhead

Thank you, 3LakeAfricanCichlids.

The setup sounds fine. My real question would what tangs do you plan to keep. Tangs generally get decent sized and like a fair amount of swim room and some will definetly be to big for a 55.

[3LakeAfricanCichlids]

I think I want Yellow Tangs, they don't get pver 8 inches, how many do you think I can have in there...It's going to be a fish only tank, so they should have more swim room then a reef tank. Thanks.

[rayjay]

One yellow tank is all that should be in the 55g tank. However, you could put a few smaller fish in before the tang, i.e. a perc clownfish and a royal gramma.
Population densities are very minimal compared to fresh water tanks.
The tang should be placed in last because it most likely will attack any additions after it, to the point of high stress levels most likely resulting in the death of one or more inhabitants.
You could use the search feature of the board to check out previous threads on the various topics of starting up salt water aquariums, the keeping of tangs, and general information on fish only tanks.
In this hobby, the slower you go, the less problems you should have, and less mortalities also. That also translates into fewer dollars for what is a very expensive hobby over time.

[Tervill]

Having more than one Yellow Tang in a tank is a recipe for disaster. I have the same size tank as you do, and I have one yellow tang and 2 perc clowns. They get along just fine. The tank IS too small for the Yellow Tang, so I am currently in the process of setting up a 90 gallon. Although the Tang might look like its doing fine in a smaller tank, it will not be "happy", will get stressed, and may display agression towards other tank-mates. If you do decide to get a yellow tang, I would recommend getting the smallest one you can find. They will not grow very large in a small tank. But if you purchase a large one, they will not shrink to compensate for the small tank size.

Terry