Hello everyone. I'm very new to this hobby and need advice. I bought a 55g tank from the fish bowl in Searcy. Have it set up with fish only right now and all is good at this point. Started this not realizing everything that it requires. I am really interested in going further with my tank. I would love to have a reef tank later on. I have been reading about the ins and outs of it but think I know less now then before I even started. I don't have any live rock and am so confused about what I should get and how much. Do I need a sump for a 55 gallon? I have a 48" fluorescent twin tube reflector and a penguin bio-wheel 350. Any advice would be great.
I'd try and shoot for about 1-1 1/2 lbs of live rock per gallon of water, so in your case, it would be about 50-80 lbs of live rock. I'd go ahead and do this even if you are having a fish only tank. It will help keep the tank water from becoming toxic to the fish. It's a must if you are even beginning to think coral. You don't have to have a sump, but it can make working on your tank and having a place for a skimmer much easier. Lighting is not an issue if you keep fish only but you'll want to upgrade once you venture in to coral and how strong of lighting you go to will depend on what type of coral you desire. Since you don't have any live rock at this point, you need to be very diligent in keeping your filter clean and keep up with water changes. Don't hesitate to ask about anything you are wondering about. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people in the club.
Thanks for the info. Any suggestions on where to get live rock and what kind. And any suggestions on type of lighting if I do decide to try coral. Right now I just have the starter fish and have added a pair of clowns, a sally light foot crab, and a bubble anemone about a week ago. Everything seems to be doing good. The anemone has set up in the corner and is spread out. Just want to make sure I'm doing things right for the critters I have now and would love to add more but there is so much to learn.
On a 55 I wouldn't suggest a sump, unfortunately most (almost all) 55's unless they're special built tanks are tempered glass and therefore non-drillable. Honestly the penguin is a good filter and will do what you want it to do until you want to upgrade tanks or change things up. I agree with whippetguy on the rock. Rock is a HUGE part of your bio-filtration and helps import a lot of helpful stabilizing bacteria into your tank. Having said that, my personal thoughts on the subject are not to drop a ton of money buy all your rock and send your tank and fish into shock. Since you're already running it and your fish are seemingly doing ok, start adding rock a piece or 2 at a time until you reach a desired point with it. Also, you won't spend a ton of $$ all at once since admittedly live rock is pricy. Now, onto coral. Before you head into coral you will need to do the rock or at least get most of it in then you might consider upgrading your lights since I'm not sure the ones you have will be sufficient for much more than maybe some zoanthids or paly's and maybe some mushrooms. Do your research here. Seriously. There are at least 3 different light options any LFS will be able to talk to you about. LED's, T5's, and Metal Halides. Hope this helps and feel free to ask more.
You say that you have a bubble tip in your tank. I'd upgrade your lighting soon. They have a high light needs and typically a well established tank to do well long term. If it starts to look bad, don't hesitate to take it out or it's death will kill everything else in your tank. This is a good read about keeping bubble tips: http://www.karensroseanemones.net/
Hiya, There are people on line that are selling live rock, or something you might want to consider is starting with base rock. It's rock that doesn't have the biological entities in it yet. This you can add a lot faster and it will eventually become live rock. It's a lot cheaper to do it this way. Kim/Benton, AR
I know there a lot of things I don't know and a lot that I should have known before I ever started so I appreciate all the advice I can get. Upgrade on lighting is in the works. I dont know about my bubble tip. After reading everything I wish I would not have added him yet. I believe he is bleached (again from reading) so I know I really needs the better lights. He is staying in the same spot but yesterday he flipped over. He's still puffed up. Any advice on that? And also if anyone knows anyboby that does have rock for sale, I'm trying to add it slow so I dont mess anything up.
