Breaking rules on a 55g Petco reef tank

[violetjones]

Hi guys!

This is my build thread for my 55 gallon tank from Petco. The space I am putting the tank is very narrow so the 55 actually works perfect. A little nervous for the rockscape as I have heard several people complain about rockscaping narrow tanks but here we go!

 

[helmsreef]

Sure, paint the back side if wanted, drill for a ghost overflow, build a nice net top, lay down some starboard if you want to go bare bottom. There are ways

 

[vetteguy53081]

Back in the hobby (finally!). I used to have this sick 90 gallon tank in high school, sump, the whole nine yards...

Any tank can be beautiful but a reef ready tank will make your reef life more successful
Tanks without overflows often require hang on the back components such as refugium, skimmer and reactor leaving openings for jumpersand salt creep/seepage not to mention added maintenance.
If you are receptive to this- yes, this tank works
Using a power filter will be more of a headache as is canister unit

 

[SudzFD]

Welcome back.
Yes, any tank can be beautiful. I’ve been in the hobby off and on for over 20 years. I’ve never run a sump or overflow box. I’ve used canister filters with HOB skimmers and HOB filters/skimmers and I have kept all kinds of things. The tank in my profile is a 60g with HOB equipment. I do prefer HOB to canister filters.

 

[Mav88]

Original post changed don’t want to add suggestions to an already live tank. Good luck with your tank!

 

[violetjones]

So I decided I am only doing captive bred fish. I went to my LFS and grabbed a couple clowns. Did my first freshwater dip - so scary I thought they were going to die. I dipped them in a cooking pot which didn’t help the visual haha

 

[violetjones]

Welcome back.
Yes, any tank can be beautiful. I’ve been in the hobby off and on for over 20 years. I’ve never run a sump or overflow box. I’ve used canister filters with HOB skimmers and HOB filters/skimmers and I have kept all kinds of things. The tank in my profile is a 60g with HOB equipment. I do prefer HOB to canister filters.

I have been pleasantly surprised with my HOB Tunze skimmer and filter!!

 

[violetjones]

75 gallon petco tank painted the back and drilled overflow and returns also used a 20 long for a sump with a Fiji baffle kit. Best of luck with your choice.

Haha nice!

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

looking good! when are corals coming?

 

[violetjones]

Hi guys! A little update on the tank. Been aquascaping corals. Here is the newest build:

We are building a nano anemone tank. Found a cute little guy but so nervous of him strolling into the powerheads he is in an acclimation box until the nano is up and running.

 

[violetjones]

The idea of captive bred was nice but then quickly went out the window when you realize most fish are wild caught. We had an ich/velvet outbreak and we lost our yellow tang.

All the fish are in qt. Found a cute purple tang and we figured we would treat her with all the other fish. We had a successful 30 day qt with copper power 2.5 and metroplex. All ich and velvet is gone. Yay! Just did tank transfer and now running prazipro.
Running the dt fallow for 76 days.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Yes I know doing a mixed reef tank with all HOB equipment is risky.

nobody's reef has ever died from not having a sump I don't think

 

[damsels are not mean]

nobody's reef has ever died from not having a sump I don't think

In other words, I'd bet on the success of a well maintained tank very little filtration at all over a tank with all the widgets and no work ethic... Corals need flow, light, nutrients, minerals. These things can be provided and stabilized with just a light, some sort of dosing method, and a powerhead. Everything else is done to delay or eliminate the need for water changes, and lightly stocked tanks do not produce enough waste to overwhelm the uptake of all the stuff that grows in the tank anyways.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

wow! you got some large colonies right away!

 

[violetjones]

wow! you got some large colonies right away!

Ya I got lucky - a couple local reefers were doing tank breakdowns. Feels like adopting a dog hahah.
The toad was huge when I got it and has grown a lot in only the last couple of months.

 

[violetjones]

nobody's reef has ever died from not having a sump I don't think

Ya true that haha

 

[violetjones]

So here is a little coral ****…got way too many mushroom corals. Just going to enjoy the honeymoon phase before they take over my tank

 

[Cincyreefer513]

Your tank looks great!

 

[violetjones]

Your tank looks great!

Thanks!

 

[violetjones]

The tank is very narrow (less than 13 inches wide) so had to get creative for rock space.

added a floating rock for sps