55 gallon suggestions....

[MarkS]

Well, my mother decided today that she wants to set up a 55 gallon tank in the livingroom. Surprised the heck out of me, but I am not complaining! The only condition that I gave her is that I will not set up a freshwater aquarium. This will be funded by both her and me, and money is not much of a concern.

I want to go FOWLR, but I DO NOT want any messy eaters or fish with special requirements. I am thinking of maybe a couple of false percs with a BTA. This is where I would like some suggestions. I really want the percs and anemone, but what would go good with them?

The tank WILL be skimmerless and this is not up for debate! I will have a 4" live sand bed and about 45# of live rock. Lighting will be an IceCap 4x110watt VHO retro with two 50/50's and two actinics. Water movement will be from 2 maxijet 1200's.

TIA,
Mark

[Justler]

I have a 55 gallon, I just moved it to work... just have to raise the salinity a little bit and I can move my fish from home. I would suggest getting a 75 gallon or even 90 gallon. I wish I would have when I started setting things up. I wish my tank were a little bit deeper... Although it is a little more maintenance when you do maintenance, you wouldn't have to change the water as often because there is more water. Just a thought.

[MarkS]

Yeah, I would like to go bigger, but I already have the 55. If I was doing a reef, then I would go with at least a 75.

Mark

[Neal359]

try to get a difent size tank the 55 is just such a pain and you cant drill it. i would go withc a 72 bow its just a little bigger. what ever tank you do get speend the $$ and get it drilled

[chromis]

A 55 is really a great tank for the money. Bow front tanks are usually upwards of $300 and have distortion. Also there is no reason why a HOT overflow wont work instead of risky drillings. I use a HOT overflow and with a standpipe I dont even know its there. I have no problems with it stopping, the trick is to suck ALL of the air out of the u tube and then it will work fine. I do not know the makers of my overflow but I suspect AGA. You can get a 55 drilled but I dont reccomend it unless you have corner overflows and thats kinda uneccessary for a FOWLR. I think a couple of heinochus butterflys or a pair of copperbands would really look good, and the copperbands would eat all of your aipstasia! Then you would still have room for a small attractive fish you may find at the lfs. As for a skimmerless tank IMHE you may want more rock if your not going to use a skimmer


HTH
Andrew

[MarkS]

Thanks for the thoughts on the tank size, but I have an empty 3 year old 55 gallon sitting in my back yard. I would love a bigger tank, but why spend money for something I already have?

Anyway, this thread was for stocking suggestions. I am going to do the BTA and 2 clowns and am thinking about the "Barnicle Blennies" from the thread in the reef forum. I have a rather large barnicle cluster that I forgot I had, so all I would need to do is buy the fish.

Would a Regal Tang get too big for a 55? I know that tangs need a lot of room, but I have never seen this fish bigger than 2".

Thanks,
Mark

[Neal359]

i think that tang is to big for the tank

ps if you are going with the 55gal get the back of it drilled and an over flow box put in its a SOOO much better than the over flow boxes. you will be happy that you did just ask around

[chromis]

Neal, not all HOT overflow boxes are the same. It is not correct to say all of them are not good. I have used mine for a while now and the only mod I had to make is a standpipe and you would want that on a corner overflow too. As long as you suck all of the air out of the U tube when you first set it up then you should have no problems.

Mark, on the tang. I would start small and since you are only planning on 45 pounds of rock, I think you would be fine. Check out wetwebmedia for more details. I remember reading that regal/ hippos get to about half their wild size in captivity.

HTH
Andrew

[Neal359]

i am sure that their are some good overflow boxes out their but after i got my new tank that was drilled i just put my mind at peice not having to wory about the sifen starting if the pow went out or it breaking and the fact that you can put the tank as close to the wall as you want. i hade a overflow box that worked well but you will never see me get a nother tank with out one and the cost for a good over flow box is just a little less than geting a tank drilled

[chromis]

FYI if you have a high enough standpipe then you do not need to restart the siphon after power outages.

[Mikeman]

mark are you sure you don't want a snowflake eel?

I would say your fish list sounds good

I know your don't want a reef, but I would throw some mushrooms in after you get the anenome and just let them spread like wildfire, the anenome should be able to sting any shrooms that get close, and you can always prog them and send them to me

[Biomanjcs72]

IF you are going to stick a BTA and some Perc's in there, with that kind of lighting, you might as well make it a reef, with VHO's you could keep most LPS's and softies without much trouble, and if it were a reef, your percs and BTA would be happier. About the no skimmer, without some sort of surface extraction, you get s slimy film on tiop of the water that'll impede gas exchange.

[MarkS]

MikeMan, no eels! they are very cool critters, but I do not want any predators.

Biomanjcs72, I will add some corals. For that matter, my lighting has changed. I WILL be going with the 400watt 6.5K dual PFO MH retro from Reefland. I do not care for the yellow of the lights, but I plan on using two 46" VHO actinics later on down the road.

I am not considering this a reef because a reef to me has tons of live rock and is packed with corals. I will have only a small amount of live rock, no more than 1 - 1.5 pounds per gallon, and a very small selection of corals. I do not plan on adding any SPS either now or in the future regardless of my lighting.

That surface film that you are talking about can be eliminated with powerheads pointed at the surface and this is what I am going to do. The reason that I am going skimmerless is because I have heard too many people say how much better the life in the tank does without a skimmer. In fact, anemones are supposed to do much better in a tank without a skimmer. Seems that the skimmer takes out stuff that anemones need to live. We'll see.

Mark

[Biomanjcs72]

Maybe we should call theses tanks Semireefs...

[chromis]

umm, wasnt heat an issue with this tank? If you dont like the yellow then I would go with 250s.

[MarkS]

Heat was/is an issue, but I figure that the benifits of MH outweigh any negative aspects.

The 250's are whiter than the 400's?

Mark

[chromis]

Unless you want only sps and clams then
I would get the 250's. I think all softies/ mushrooms would probably fry under 400s and your anemone mght bleach. The 250s are supposed to be whiter to look at and use less power make less heat etc.

[MarkS]

I would probably go with the 250's if they are whiter. I am planning on keeping a clam, but that has got to be enough light.

Mark

[jwtrojan44]

Mark, since the post was about stocking the tank, how about this. A dwarf angel(once tank is well established) A pair of yellow-headed jawfish would be great although 4 inches is the bare minimum for their sandbed needs. A twinspot hogfish, royal gramma, and maybe a purple firefish. all small, colorful and active. I have similar stocking in my 56. I too have a 55 with an 18 in snowflake eel and a school of green chromis plus some big 'ol hermits. I'm leaning in the direction of making the 55 more of a community tank.

[naser]

you can keep a clam under pc's. not well but can be done. being summer and me having two 400watters, heat really hasnt been an issue!! thank god. wild summer out in the west i guess!!