# 55 gallon saltwater tank



## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

this is the continuation to my last thread where i built my sump and stand found at http://www.aquariumforum.com/f37/diy-55-gallon-stand-20-long-38527.html that link. 

i ordered my stuff from dr foster and smith because it was way cheaper then the shop i work at.









i then had my tank drilled which i forgot to get a picture off.  but once i got my tank drilled i cut my pvc pipes for the tank and took it outside to my picnic table which luckily was the same height as my stand. 
















i tested it out there to make sure there were no leaks on the tank itself and to make sure i wouldnt have any leaks on the bulk heads or plumping. also to make sure if i had a power failure my sump wouldnt flood over and ruin my room and such. 

then once that checked out time to install into my room. 

























once tank was installed i added my water and then sand. the sand made it pretty murky. i had bought live sand so i didnt rinse it which probably didnt help the murkiness. 









after about 2 days everything is looking crystal clear and amazing. i've got roughly two pounds of broken up live rock in my sump and will be buying and adding more into my tank when i can.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

think of something to keep fish from being sucked into your return in the event of power failure.Nice build looks sweet.Keep up great work!


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

thanks! but i've got something for it but for letting it cycle i just left it off.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

i added 56 pounds of live rock into the tank and then 2 pounds of crushed into my sump. now to let it run until mid novermber! 









i'll update again once i start to add fish or corals.


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## Brian757 (Sep 24, 2012)

I hate looking at saltwater threads. Everytime I see a really nice tank setup(like yours), I want to run out and sell one of my arms and legs to get a setup. Good job! Subscribed.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

hahaha i totally know how you feel! i was completely content with my freshwater tank until i started scuba diving and working at a store with salt water fish. if you do decide to start one there are many ways to cutting costs so its not extremely expensive. i spent right around $600 total on my set up. I built my own stand and got the tank from a guy that worked at petsmart for 60 dollars. i bought all my live rock for 60 dollars as well from someone who just didnt wanna do fish anymore. building your own stand saves a great deal. i spent maybe 40 dollars on all the wood,screws,trim, and handles. i've been working on building this tank up since june its been a long time running but im soooooo excited to get fish in it, only 30 more days to go!


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## Brian757 (Sep 24, 2012)

Well I am really interested in seeing how this goes because even with your live rock, your tank looks amazing! Do you know what types of frags your putting in it? I will have to see later on how money goes.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

as of right now i know im gonna be putting in green star polyps. possibly thinking of doing some other soft corals. I'll try some hard corals once i see how everything is going.


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## Brian757 (Sep 24, 2012)

Is it true hard corals are easier to maintain than soft corals? Like clams and anemones are harder to keep? I want a saltwater ray tank. With some clowns. I dont know.. Haha, I just want one, okay?!


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Very nice! Saltwater eludes me because of the price.


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## Brian757 (Sep 24, 2012)

majerah1 said:


> Very nice! Saltwater eludes me because of the price.


+1,000,000,000. I am too scared to get involved with them. I just drool over peoples tanks, and imagine how they ever built up the courage to start one. One day, one day.. I will do it with my 40Gal!


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Brian757 said:


> Is it true hard corals are easier to maintain than soft corals? Like clams and anemones are harder to keep? I want a saltwater ray tank. With some clowns. I dont know.. Haha, I just want one, okay?!


SPS= Hard Corals. Very difficult to keep. IE- Clams, Anemones, Small Polyp Stonies. Water parameters have to be perfect, and lighting very strong. Halides or LED would be advised for those.
Soft Corals are much much easier to keep, most like Nitrates in the water, and do not need as strong of light as SPS and LPS.


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## Brian757 (Sep 24, 2012)

Reefing Madness said:


> SPS= Hard Corals. Very difficult to keep. IE- Clams, Anemones, Small Polyp Stonies. Water parameters have to be perfect, and lighting very strong. Halides or LED would be advised for those.
> Soft Corals are much much easier to keep, most like Nitrates in the water, and do not need as strong of light as SPS and LPS.


See?! Im not ready for a saltwater!! *sh
I am learning though ReefingMadness, thats good to know! I am going to start a saltwater someday and literally have you walk me through it. It might take me a month or 3 months...maybe 2 years, but I will one day have living things in the tank, whether it be wrasse... or algae.
SPS = small polyp stony corals
LPS = Large polyp stony corals
Im doing my homework...


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Its really not as hard as your making it out to be. Either buy used equipment or E-Bay stuff. either a 30g or 40g tanks are easily managed and not very pricey to start.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

hahaha reefmadness answered it for me. avoid going scuba diving because it just makes the want for saltwater fish SO much worse.


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## gpd605x (Jun 28, 2012)

I just converted my 55g to SW and the only thing I bought was crushed coral substrate, salt mix and a hydrometer and it cost me about $60. I still use my bio-wheel 350 and same power head. I still need to get another power head but I don't have half the crap everyone says is needed. I don't have a RO/DI (want one), protein skimmer, overflow system (want one), sump and some other stuff. I've been up and running now for about 3-4 months and all of my levels have checked out fine. I've been slowly adding LR but I only have about 16lbs in mine right now and just added 4 fish (2 Blue/Green Chromis and 2 Yellowtail Damselfish). So far, I haven't had any issues with my setup (knock on wood). I have a good LFS near me and they have been really good and honest with me about everything. They won't let you buy fish unless you bring them a water sample and they make sure everything is correct before letting you just buy a bunch of random stuff. I know some stores will just sell sell sell and not really care what they are selling you. This is just my experience and maybe I'm just lucky to not have any problems so far but as long as you do your research, you should be fine


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## dizzykylie (Oct 1, 2012)

Do you need an RO/DI system to do a FOWLR tank? For some reason that and the building of a sump has turned me off of starting a marine tank.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

dizzykylie said:


> Do you need an RO/DI system to do a FOWLR tank? For some reason that and the building of a sump has turned me off of starting a marine tank.


Is it a must have, No, RO/DI is not a must have, neither is a sump. But, the stuff that will grow in that tank without using it, you'll wish you did have it. I ran a FOWLR for a few years with just tap water.


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## gpd605x (Jun 28, 2012)

^^True. Unless your LFS has cheap water and its not a far drive. Mine is about .25 a gallon which isn't too bad.


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

Ill definetly be watching this one, nice setup you got goin there, I'm with most everyone else, the startup costs and bigger matinance load scares me from attemping but I completly oogle over the salt tanks of others, one day though, one day..


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

as of tomorrow it will be 3 weeks of my tank being up and running. my tank has already cycled and i've tested the water constantly to be sure that it has. i'm leaving for mexico on friday and when i get back im going to be buying fish. i've got a few different types in mind but whats some of your guys ideas? im probably going to stick with nano reef fish, mainly because i want to have as many as i can regardless of it they're small. i want to look lively and full of life. the saltwater store where i work also has green star polyps frags that im gonna be putting in my tank for corals soooo preferably reef safe fish. so any ideas?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

The fish are really up to you. I don't really like to throw out certain fish, as the colors and specifics are up to the person keeping them.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

firefish are colorful and stay small(good lid needed as they're jumpers,also 2 common vareties;common,purple you can have several),Royal gramma(only 1 per tank),If you have copods in tank;mandarin(with spike on dorsal male/without female only 1 male per tank or pair),clown fish are regular additions( apair is nice but are hard to sex,but that's not as important with clowns{some even change sex to suit set up}).Although listed reef safe many of the dwarf angels are pickers and can disturb corals.Stay away from hermit crabs as they bother corals also usaully.The basic beginner fish(damsels) will be aggressive towards other smaller fish and are diffacult to catch and remove so if water quality is ok(you said your cycled) avoid them.Search reef safe wrasses(as some are not reef safe.)Shrimp gobies are small and can be very colorful(they hide alot ,you can have different kinds).I'm lucky at my LFS if I see a fish I.m not completely familiar with ,they have a computer and I seaech fish right there.Go to store and look,write down and come home to research.


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## Sully (Oct 31, 2012)

I look forward to seeing your progress. I just started my own FOWLR this past weekend. Patiennce is not my virtue to say the least but I'm doing my best to take my time. Good luck to you.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

here is an update of my tank. i rearranged my live rock right before i left for my trip. i set it up so there is caves and various little hiding spots and things for my fish. 









then i got this little guy yesterday (11-23)








i had the tank cycling for almost a month and a half with nothing in it. started getting algae and bought 6 snails. waited a week, checked all my levels and they were perfect so i got him.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)




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## gpd605x (Jun 28, 2012)

Looking good man! Keep up the work


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## Drwoodchopper (Nov 18, 2012)

Looks good! Do you have any pictures of you sump set up after you finished it? I am building a sump out of the same size tank and would like to see!
Thanks


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

i do not have any of my sump set up yet. its nothing crazy yet. i've just a filter sock, small bits of live rock, heater, protein skimmer, some chemipure bags and a carbon bag that i just recently added and my return pump.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

then last wednesday i picked up a firefish and algae blenny. i also got two corals. a pulsing xenia and green star polyps. 

here is the algae blenny. 

















then here is the firefish (the best picture i've gotten of him so far.










i'll post photos of the corals when i get a decent picture of them.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)




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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

Tank's looking great!


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

so here is a little peppermint shrimp i picked up at work today. 









then here is my pulsing xenia which has already started branching off onto another rock since i took this photo.









then my green star polyps which havent full attached to my rock yet, hence the rubber band.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

i picked up this guy today.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Anthias. Nice.


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

so here is an update on my tank and what i've added over the last month or so.

snapping (pistol shrimp) 









a pair or zebra bar gobies (or dartfish )









peppermint shrimp with a small mushroom









my firefish with my green star poylps 









a poor picture of my pulsing xenia, its really hard to get a good photo of those









my little atlantic pygmy angel 









my royal sea urchin









then my little clown goby









there is an update. i know you can see some red slime in some pictures, i havent gotten a chance to treat it yet but i've been doing weekly water changes and my protein skimmer has been kicking *** so im hoping i dont have to do any chemical treating.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Your Sea Urchin is carrying around Green Bubble Algae. Bad News......
'Bubble' Alage: Selected Descriptions, Controls and Comments by Horge Cortes-Jorge, Jr. - Reefkeeping.com

Other than that stuff looks GREAT!!


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## enjoi1212 (Jul 14, 2012)

there we go all gone. it didnt pop or anything. i just lifted it off lightly and then threw it away.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

WHEW!! Good job man!!!


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