starting a new reef/semi reef tank

[bonny]

Well let me just start out by saying i am new here and i think you have a pretty good site here

Well i am going to set up a 55us gallon 48 uk gallon tank that measures 48"long, 16"wide and 18.5" tall. I already have a 40W bulb running on this tank. The filtration is a fluval 304 cannister filter.

What i plan on doing is because money is a limiting factor i will not be able to upgrade my lighting till christmas. I am then planning on getting dual 96w compact flourescent bulbs and either getting 1 10000k bulb and one atnic bulb or getting 2 50/50 bulbs (whichever works out cheapest ) This gives me with the 40W bulb just over 4WPG i believe this is enough for most corals? Oh and i am going to fan cool these.

So until i get the new lighting i plan on adding live rock slowly i am going to run a DSB with 4" of argonite based sand. I will buy 25lbs of dead rock ie reef bones or texas holey rock or something similair. I will then slowly over a period of several weeks (probably about 8) add 25lbs of live rock. Hopefully this will cycle the tank for me. I will then leave the tank to establish for a month (and for me to get more money ) then i will start adding fish. The fish i plan on having in this tank eventually are:

2 percula clown fish
3 blue-green chromis
1 Bi-colour angelfish
1 royal dottyback

Now the only fish i really really want out of this lot are the percs the rest i don't mind about. What are everyones experiences with bi-colour angelfish and reef systems? I will add the clown fish first and then probably after another month or 2 add the chromi. The dotty back and angelfish will probably be added after christmas and after i have added some corals.

Now i can't afford a protien skimmer or an R/O filter although R/O water is pretty cheap round here so i will just buy it for water changes and topping off the tank.

Can anyone see any giant gaping flaws in my plan?

with any angel it is 50-50 if they are tollerable...bi colours are very picky eaters...if it were me id take it off my list

[bonny]

Oh yeah forgot to mention i will be adding several more inverts such as hermit crabs and turbo snails as well as shrimps such as peppermint and skunk cleaner shrimp.

[bonny]

thanx reef man i will scrap that then. Any other suggestions for fish in it's place or should i just get 2 more chromi?

[9fishers]

offer anything except a great big TRT
WELCOME!!!!

All I can suggest is, read,read,read and ask a LOT of questions. Starting a tank can be a real bugger!

i have a 55 gal and i wish i woulda gotten 5 chromis....

[bonny]

thanx for the welcome everyone. Looks like i have a good plan then can't wait to get this tank setup but i have to wait 5-6 weeks for the room it's in to be redecorated and i may have to reseal it cos it might have been dosed with copper but i am going to test it with FW ghost shrimp first.

[MammaDuck]

Uh-Oh. . . copper is bad, VERY bad. It's also extemely had to get rid of. I'm not sure if resealing it will work or not. If you keep having "mystery" deaths, you will know it's copper poisoning. If you aren't sure if the tank was treated with copper or not you may want to hold off and get a new tank. In the long run, your pocketbook will thank you. . .

Of course, if it's just the clown fish you are interested in you could successfully set up a fish only with live rock, but I would be hesitant setting up a full-blown reef if I was uncertain about the copper issue. HTH

Best Wishes and Good Luck!

[bonny]

well i'm pretty certain it was treated with copper but i might aswell try resealing it for a few pounds and testing it with ghost shrimp that i have heard are sensitive to copper aswell that buying a new tank for £50+ I would think that if i turned the glass around so that the outside faces in and the seals are completely destroyed and redone i should think that should do it

[MammaDuck]

hehe. . . I guess I misunderstood the whole "resealing" thing

Logically that SHOULD work. . . of course, how much logic plays a part we'll see. . . I would suggest getting a copper test kit and test the water after a few days. . . I don't know much (OK anything ) about ghost shrimp, but using a kit will keep from having to "test" on poor unsuspecting shrimpies

Keep us posted. . . it's and interesting proposal. . .

[bonny]

well the shrimp are doomed anyway cos if they survive the copper test then they have my angel fish and goldies and koi to deal with but yeah i am going to look out for a copper test kit and test it before i add any SW inverts.

[bonny]

oh and cane somebody please give me a list of all the additives i will need to add and how often?

[bonny]

/\

Anyone?

if you do religous water changes the only think id be adding is ca and an alk buffer..daily (unless you go with ca or kalk reactor) then dy once a week for any filterfeeding corals

[bonny]

thanx very much. How about if i only do water changes once a month (once the DSB has kicked in of course ) will i still have to dose as often. oh and what are some good brands?