New 56 Gallon Tank

[iDad]

My wife bought me my late Father's Day present from PetSmart yesterday. It was a day only sale and I got a 56 gallon tank + a Stand for just under $200. Which to me...is a steal. The LFS down the road from me wanted $400 for theres. Everything came up to $166.

So I will be documenting my progress in the weeks to come. But I do have a question...

The stand is weird, I'll post pictures tomorrow. It doesn't have enough room for a sump or anything. Basically it isn't configured to where you can store your sump, or fish equipment....anything of the sort.

So what do you guys suggest I do. I was thinking about buying an AquaClear100 HOB Filter, and a HOB Refugium (or one that actually sits in the tank). But, I am asking for any opinions or suggestions on how you veterans would set up a tank like this. I don't plan on getting a different stand in the near future though, for those that would suggest buying a new one. My budget for each piece of equipment is $200 (give or take depending on how much more better piece of equipment would be)

Also, lighting. I have yet to really understand what lighting I would need for what set up. Right now I have frag rock that has 4 mushrooms on it, a Haitian anemone, and a frag of a yellow star poly. But I would like to expand in the near future. I was thinking of a Metal Halide/T5 combo, but then I would need a chiller for the metal halides. I would like to spend around $300, but it wouldn't be out of the question of spending more then that for lights in order to get my tank set up appropriately. I would like to get enough lighting to where I wouldn't have a problem growing/sustaining anything. I am also not that much of a Do-It-Yourselfer though, not right now anyway.

Any and ALL help is greatly appreciated and I very anxiously look forward to hearing what you veterans have to suggest!

 

[Mrfresh]

Go with a remora skimmer there great.
Hob fuge are also great. You don't have to do a sump to have a nice salt water system

T5 lighting is pretty good.
There are also the basic china led lighting.
But I keep all corals with t5 lighting.

 

[808jaymakoa]

My stand I bought with the tank doesn't have a place for a sump either. So I bought a tall stand and put it next to the tank and that houses my cannister filter. It doesn't look the prettiest but it gets the job done.

 

[reefer newby]

new tank

I am using a reef octopus hob skimmer rated for twice the size of my 55 gal tank. I have a canister filter inside my stand. My tank is doing fine without a sump , so I will continue this way and see what happens. Seems like a hassle to have to get under your tank to check things all the time. Especially your skimmer which needs constant monitoring . From all I have read , sumps can be a nightmare. You definitely need a good skimmer .This tank is 4 months old . l have been going very slow adding stuff , to keep from overloading &nbsp;while it is maturing.. <img src="https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78273&amp;stc=1" attachmentid="78273" alt="" id="vbattach_78273" class="previewthumb">

 

[iDad]

I guess it would have been beneficial to say that I have a 14 month old that gets into everything, so I can't have anything on the floor next to the aquarium that he can grab. I may have to look at getting a cabinet though, good idea.

What kind of fish do you guys have in your 55 gallons? What kind of lighting?

 

[NanaReefer]

HOB skimmer and HOB fuge here! 2+yrs

Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

 

[Bartmmackey]

There are some nice LEDs that are cost effective and wouldn't require chiller or change in bulbs as often. Check out sponsor reefbreeders. I love Aquamaxx hob, used ones pop up on cs or the market forum. Best of luck!

 

[808jaymakoa]

My LEDs are from Rick at reef Radience. And as above said. Very good cost efficient LEDs out there.

 

[glb]

I guess it would have been beneficial to say that I have a 14 month old that gets into everything, so I can't have anything on the floor next to the aquarium that he can grab. I may have to look at getting a cabinet though, good idea.

What kind of fish do you guys have in your 55 gallons? What kind of lighting?

I totally understand.


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP
12g Nanoreef. Zooanthids, Ricordia, Star Polyps, Acans and two clownfish. CF Lighting, 75% actinic blue, 25% 10,000k white.

 

[revhtree]

Hello and welcome to R2R!

We appreciate your membership!

Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[iDad]

Thanks for all of the help and the input guys! Looks like I will continue planning on grabbing a HOB Refugium from BRS and a HOB Protein Skimmer as well. I plan on doing research on the brands that you guys suggested and make my decision from there.

808: How big is your tank? I see you have a yellow tang and I would love to get one as well, need to wait until I upgrade to a bigger tank though from all I have read.

Here are some pictures that I took today when I began my Leak Test

56 Gallon Tank and Stand

I threw on the T5 fixture that I had on my 20 Gallon Long, it was collecting dust so I just threw it on there

This is after I filled up the tank and turned on the lamp. Funny story, I was filling up 5 gallon buckets with sink water using my siphon. I walked into the kitchen and saw the end somehow came out of the bucket. Water was EVERYWHERE!

 

[iDad]

Also, I have been browsing for different fish and these are the ones I were looking at. I still need to narrow the list down because I will severely go over my BioLoad but I was thinking I could put the list up, let you guys tell me about the different fish and what you think I should remove, and what you think would be a good addition.

Right now I have a Royal Gramma and a Clownfish in my other tank, I have not decided if I will put those in the big tank or leave them in the tank that they are in now.


Royal Gramma
Clownfish
Blue Green Reef Chromis
Flame Angelfish
Firefish Helfrichi or Purple
Blue Dot Jawfish
Cardinalfish
PaPuan Toby Puffer
Six Line Wrasse or Mystery Wrasse
Carpenter's Fisher Wrasse
Marine Betta

 

[808jaymakoa]

My tank is a 55 gallon as well. Alittle small for a yellow tang but I'm planning a bigger build now. My tank is at maximum capacity and I won't be adding anymore fish. I have 2 true perc clowns, 1 pseudo bicolor, 1lawn mower blenny, 2 damsels, 1 flame angel, 1 coral beauty, and a juvenile blue hippo in a quarentine tank. So I'm definitely pushing the limits. But it works out for now and doesn't appear to be overstocked.

 

[808jaymakoa]

As far as bio load goes my ammonia is at .001 so pretty much no issues there.

 

[iDad]

Sweet, I don't know if I would be able to pull off having a Yellow Tang in my tank, yours seems to be a long where mine is a wide. I may just wait to get anything like that until I set up my bigger tank. I move a lot and really shouldn't even set this one up but I couldn't resist.