55 gallon restart

[Fotibear]

Hello everyone, Welcome to the documentation of this 55 gallon reef tank I’ve acquired. I got this thing used about 3 months ago, I tried to save it but due to poor maintenance from the previous owner I decided it would be best for me to start fresh. The tank came with a canister filter and some powerheads etc. I switched most of the equipment out to more of my liking. I have a couple DYI projects that I’ve completed this time around as well and I’m excited to share with you guys yet another new tank thread ! I’ll try my best to put everything in but if I miss something or anyone wants to ask me a question feel free. Negative or positive feedback is appreciated!

So I’m at 4 weeks of cycling the tank, I have close to 40-50 lbs of rock some live some I picked up from a guy selling after a tear down so it was all dried up. I didn’t use live sand But I do have a fine sandbed, I got some sand from a LFS but I don’t think it was enough to jump start my cycle. I have no idea what light fixture I have due to the fact that it was in a random box when I got it lol. It’s a 4 bulb T5 with 2 Halide bulbs in the center. It also has the leds for moonlight cycle. So I was able to rig up my own system for hanging the light, it came with feet to rest on the tank lip but I didn’t like having to remove it every time for maintenance. I also was able to create a HOB refug out of an aquaclear 70 HOB Filter. I have a Marineland penguin 350 HOB Filter and a hydor HOB Skimmer that I’ll be getting rid of soon because I don’t like the large footprint it leaves in the tank. In my Filter I’ve removed the bio wheels and I’ve placed some seachem purigen and seachem PhosGuard in there along with some ceramic bio media for the previous canister filter. In my DIY refug I’ve got some sand, some small rock and Chaeto that has been growing nicely . I’ve added some live plants into my display to see if they will help with the natural filtration. Well that’s about it for the moment, I’ll update when the plants go in !

 

[WV Reefer]

Hello everyone, Welcome to the documentation of this 55 gallon reef tank I’ve acquired. I got this thing used about 3 months ago, I tried to save it but due to poor maintenance from the previous owner I decided it would be best for me to start fresh. The tank came with a canister filter and some powerheads etc. I switched most of the equipment out to more of my liking. I have a couple DYI projects that I’ve completed this time around as well and I’m excited to share with you guys yet another new tank thread ! I’ll try my best to put everything in but if I miss something or anyone wants to ask me a question feel free. Negative or positive feedback is appreciated!

So I’m at 4 weeks of cycling the tank, I have close to 40-50 lbs of rock some live some I picked up from a guy selling after a tear down so it was all dried up. I didn’t use live sand But I do have a fine sandbed, I got some sand from a LFS but I don’t think it was enough to jump start my cycle. I have no idea what light fixture I have due to the fact that it was in a random box when I got it lol. It’s a 4 bulb T5 with 2 Halide bulbs in the center. It also has the leds for moonlight cycle. So I was able to rig up my own system for hanging the light, it came with feet to rest on the tank lip but I didn’t like having to remove it every time for maintenance. I also was able to create a HOB refug out of an aquaclear 70 HOB Filter. I have a Marineland penguin 350 HOB Filter and a hydor HOB Skimmer that I’ll be getting rid of soon because I don’t like the large footprint it leaves in the tank. In my Filter I’ve removed the bio wheels and I’ve placed some seachem purigen and seachem PhosGuard in there along with some ceramic bio media for the previous canister filter. In my DIY refug I’ve got some sand, some small rock and Chaeto that has been growing nicely . I’ve added some live plants into my display to see if they will help with the natural filtration. Well that’s about it for the moment, I’ll update when the plants go in !

Sounds like you are off to a running start looks good so far.

 

[Fotibear]

Sounds like you are off to a running start looks good so far.

Thanks man appreciate it

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Good start. I would play with the aquascape a bit, so much more you can do with the rock you have. I have never liked any HOB equipment, drilled and sump for me.

 

[Fotibear]

Good start. I would play with the aquascape a bit, so much more you can do with the rock you have. I have never liked any HOB equipment, drilled and sump for me.

I wanted to do a sump and all but I’m gonna wait until I get a bigger tank. The HOB isn’t that bad, Altho it’s alot cleaner looking with the sump I’ll give you that. My mind went kinda blank when scaping so I just had it like this. Maybe I’ll switch it around before I start putting livestock in.

 

[Fotibear]

Just an update with everything up and running !

 

[Greaps]

Looks great, not sure if you have one but invest in a Automatic Top Off it will change your life.

The light sounds like an Ebay Odyssea. A lot of people upgrade the T5's and halide bulbs right from the start. Read reviews of it and make a decision. If your not going for high light sps a lot of inexpensive options to cover that tank.

 

[Fotibear]

So after adding my clown fish pair, this is where the parameters stand.

Ammonia-1.0 ppm
Nitrite-0 ppm
Nitrate-20 ppm
pH-7.8
Phosphate-0 ppm
Clac-520+ ppm
Salt—1.027

 

[Fotibear]

Just an update of the tank here. Waterchange is due tonight, everything’s looking good!’

 

[hockeyhead019]

Looking good! 55 gallons are usually some of my favorite reefs, big enough to have some fun fish but not so big you have to break the bank.

 

[Jake Tully]

I am a big fan of the ledge in your tank. Looks great.

 

[Fotibear]

Hey man thank you. Was my wife’s idea to have a ledge so I did my best to work it in .

 

[Fotibear]

Picked up this bad boy last week, forgot to upload, anyway it’s working like a charm and saving me a ton of money !! ;Greedy Highly recommend for anyone on the fence if they need it or not.