Starting a reef aquarium. What do I need?

HKC0309

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Hello everyone. I am brand new to this site and pretty much brand new to the aquarium world. I've always had very small tanks and just started a new 55 gallon bow front tank. I've had the tank up and running for about 3 weeks now. I have already started with a heater, protein skimmer(Red Sea) and about 50lbs of live lock. About 35lbs pre cured. What else do I need to get this tank up and running for a healthy reef aquarium? I'm not looking for anything major just something to enjoy while sitting around. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Kevin
 
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[TD="class: xl24, width: 1761"]#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon. You can use Fully Cured Live Rock, and have the tank cycled in just a few days also. Other way is to use just a couple of pounds of Live Rock and the rest Macro or Dry Rock.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume. Unless your tank is under 30g, in which case you can do 10% water changes a week to rid the system of detrius. But, you'll have to watch the water parameters close, if things go haywire, you'll have to do more water changes.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#8-Rubber kitchen gloves[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#9-Fish net[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl25"]#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank[/TD]

[TD="class: xl24"]#16-Heater rated for your size tank.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such)[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 2-3" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl27"]http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=aquarium+heater&_sacat=20754&_odkw=power+heads&_osacat=0[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl28"] Live Rock and Live Sand: Live Saltwater Aquarium Rock and Sand [/TD]

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That sums it up for the most part, of course there are tons of variations that can work just as good, better, or worse. Just make sure you research everything you can down to the sand :D
 
Wow! I was going to try to help but looks like you were given a good start. Lol! Good luck and welcome to reef keeping!
 

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