Aquascaping a 55g

[Walkem556]

Hello, im in the process of starting my very first reef tank and I have most of the essential materials. One of which is Live Rock. I have it set up here on my 55g and want to know if this specific setup is good or not and if I should change anything. I want this to be a more “open reef” type of tank rather than a giant coral wall. If it helps, here are the fish I plan on adding to this tank:

Tomini Tang (Juvenile)
Ocellaris Clown Pair
Coral Beauty Angel
Blackcap Basslet
Yellow Coris Wrasse
Sunset Anthias (Singular)
Longnosed Hawkfish

Corals:
Branching Hammer
Frogspawn
Torch
Bubble
Acans
Candy Cane
Zoas
Finger Leather

If I could get aquascaping recommendations or even if I should change or improve my stocking list at all that would be awesome

Thank you

 

[ScottJ]

Take everything I say as one persons opinion. Believe me, I am no expert. Just a guy giving free advice. Take some of it or not. Up to you

Well, a 55 is tough to get a good scape in. It's tall and skinny. I know, because I have one.

Personally, I would use a lot more rock. It is your filter, and the fish need hiding spots to live in. My rocks are right up against the back wall, and I have a power head down low flowing across the back. Not ideal, I know. But it seems to work out.

IMHO, some of the fish you list really need a bigger tank. I wouldn't do the angel, just too small and just not enough rock work for one. Maybe a Pygmy Angel, but again, needs more rock.

I wouldn't do a Tang, any Tang. Just too small. I know that people put Juveniles in a smaller tank with the intention of upgrading, re-homing etc. But life happens and will often get in the way of good intentions.

I can't speak to the Anthias. I have no experience with them. But Live Aquaria lists a 70 gallon min tank size.

There are a lot of very beautiful fish you can stock this tank with! They just need to have their needs met. It's not a bad tank size, it just presents certain challenges

 

[CKW]

I agree that you may need more rock. A higher build at one end would help. A regular 55 is not easy to scape. I know I had one for about 8 years. A power head flowing along the back was a good suggestion.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The open reef is not ideal for your fish IMO and please don’t take it the wrong way but those 2 arches on either side of the tank is so boring and overdone. I don’t know why people think fish will swim in and out of the arches but it almost never happens.

 

[Walkem556]

honestly, i couldnt do too much with my rocks right now since I only had like seven pieces to go off of. I want to get more rock but its just very expensive and Im just a little hesitant on it. Im open to change up my rockwork and definitely will if i choose to get more rock but IDK.

 

[TheReefAbides]

More rock will help, you can also break the bigger chunks into smaller pieces and glue them back together in different configurations with out croppings and negative space and such

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

You can find rock from hobbyists breaking down their tank. Look on the online classifieds. Very honestly rock is super important for many reasons and overall, it’s not that expensive compared to other things you will need. Honestly looking at your tank with no powerheads and 2 small filters I can already see there will be problems. I’m not meaning to seem like a jerk but I’ve been in the hobby a while and I’ve seen tanks like this come and go quickly. You will need some upgrades on this tank to make it successful or else you are wasting your time and money. I’m just being straight up with you. Good luck.

 

[Walkem556]

I tried keeping most equipment I have at a lesser expense since I am mostly asking my dad for all of this. Heres all the equipment i currently have at this moment

2 Bags of Aragonite live sand
AQ178 Mini Protein Skimmer
Seachem Tidal 75 HOB filter
Mesh Lid
Hygger Crossflow Wave Pump
Nicrew ClassicLED Marine light 48-60in.
FK085 Canister Filter
Aqueon Heater and Thermometer
Instant ocean salt (Ill probably swap to reef crystals later)

 

[PTXReef]

Solid start, echoing the advice of everyone above. Next stop are some reliable test kits and tons of research!!

Welcome and best of luck!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

broken record here, but I would get more rock. That’s not enough space for your fish to hide in and it’s not enough rock for coral real estate. I like where you are going with it, I would just add more

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I tried keeping most equipment I have at a lesser expense since I am mostly asking my dad for all of this. Heres all the equipment i currently have at this moment

2 Bags of Aragonite live sand
AQ178 Mini Protein Skimmer
Seachem Tidal 75 HOB filter
Mesh Lid
Hygger Crossflow Wave Pump
Nicrew ClassicLED Marine light 48-60in.
FK085 Canister Filter
Aqueon Heater and Thermometer
Instant ocean salt (Ill probably swap to reef crystals later)

Its a good start so far, but if you want corals then don't get that light. I believe that is a 48 watt light, your tank size needs at least 150 watts. I have 150 watts on my 40 gallon so if it was me I would want 200 watts for your tank.

I would get 2 crossflow wave pumps myself,

But don't underestimate the importance of rock, rock is the biological filter of the tank, it provides hiding spots for fish and mounting spaces for corals and breeding spaces for micro organisms like copepods. It is a very important part of tank. Good luck

 

[ScottJ]

I tried keeping most equipment I have at a lesser expense since I am mostly asking my dad for all of this. Heres all the equipment i currently have at this moment

2 Bags of Aragonite live sand
AQ178 Mini Protein Skimmer
Seachem Tidal 75 HOB filter
Mesh Lid
Hygger Crossflow Wave Pump
Nicrew ClassicLED Marine light 48-60in.
FK085 Canister Filter
Aqueon Heater and Thermometer
Instant ocean salt (Ill probably swap to reef crystals later)

Like @Mr Mojo Rising advised, that light itself will be under powered for some of the corals you are looking at. I have 2, 95 watt Smatfarms, blues-uv's turned almost all the way and I could use some more light. I don't have any coral that requires really bright light, either.

If you already have that light, you can certainly use it to start. You won't be adding finicky coral any time soon anyway. You could probably grow some low light corals higher up. (But there is that rock thing again.) Just search 'low light coral.' There are a lot of very nice ones. AND, there is nothing wrong with a softy thank. You can always add ANOTHER light down the road.

But if you don't have that light yet, I would look for a stronger one. Nicrew is a good budget brand.

That's a a good wave maker, I have 2 of them, one on each end, master and slave. You can pick up a couple inexpensive power heads to supplement in the $25 range on Amazon.

Oh and don't worry about Reef Crystals, Plain IO purple bucket works fine. I used to use RC, switched back to plain IO. Costs less!

I hope this helps

 

[BryanM]

honestly, i couldnt do too much with my rocks right now since I only had like seven pieces to go off of. I want to get more rock but its just very expensive and Im just a little hesitant on it. Im open to change up my rockwork and definitely will if i choose to get more rock but IDK.

You've got to increase your rock to give the fish a good habitat, period. They need swim lanes, caves, hiding places, places to sleep.

 

[Walkem556]

Were looking into a better light. I got a second 20lbs box of rock so heres what it looks like now. I took it out since im still scaping but it now raises to about half of the tank’s height

 

[slingfox]

Do not get a Longnose Hawkfish for that size of tank. If you want a Hawkfish then something like the Falco or other pigmy Hawkfish is a better fit. Note that some of those small Hawkfish can be territorial.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Were looking into a better light. I got a second 20lbs box of rock so heres what it looks like now. I took it out since im still scaping but it now raises to about half of the tank’s height

You still can put more rock in there if you want to!