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55gal economy build

7K views 34 replies 13 participants last post by  Nate_Bro 
#1 ·
55gal Economy Build

Here's some quick links to my most substantial contributions to TRT

My Contributions


Forgive me if this list is too detailed, to be honest, I realized the benefit myself of having all of this information in one place for me, so I took the extra effort to include everything for my own reference.

Most recent pic:

Fairly recent, but some changes since this shot (most notably the plumbing on the return and the brown skirt around the whole thing)


Tank


  • Tank: 55g, not plumbed (kit from walmart)
  • Lights: Aquatic Life T5 Fixture (HOWTO: Light Rails), eggcrate for keeping the fish in
  • Heater: 200w (kit)
  • Substrate: 60lbs caribsea live sand
  • Live rock: 60lbs
  • Power Head: Hydor Koralia 2, 600gph


Sump/Refugium




Inhabitants

  • Fish: 2x False Percula Clowns, 1x 6-Line Wrasse


  • Coral: 5x Blastomussa, 2x Acan, 1x small Starpolyp colony, 5x Blue/Purple Mushrooms


  • Invertebrates: 2x Emerald Crab, 6x Peppermint Shrimp, 2x Mexican Turbo Snails, 4x Nassarius Snails, 3x Hermit Crabs (1 red leg, 2 blue leg)


  • Hitchhikers: 1x Feather Duster, Numerous Aiptasia :)arg:)
  • Planned: Cleaner Shrimp, Misc other invert. for clean up crew
Quarantine Tank

  • Tank: 20g
  • Filter: Aqua-Tech 30-60 Power Filter (bio filter media stored between sump baffles to keep the bacteria active and alive)
  • Protein Skimmer: Seaclone 100 (better than nothing? Atleast it keeps plenty of air in the tank :doh:)
  • Lights: Standard fluorescent hood
  • Power Filter: Aqua-Tech 30-60 Power Filter (kit, will be going to quarantine tank once sump is in place)
  • Substrate: Bare Bottom
  • Heater: To be determined. If required, will pull the one from the main tank as it's mostly unnecessary.
  • Decorations: None yet, some misc PVC pipe elbows planned

Supplies



  • Food: Frozen Mysis Shrimp, Frozen Fish Eggs, New Life Spectrum sinking pellets, TetraMin Tropical Flakes, BabyShrimp Sun Dried Gammarus, Hikari Tropical Algae Wafers
  • Supplements: Tetra AquaSafe tap water conditioner (I started my cycle with tap water, I still keep this around but basically just for a stress coat)
Maintenance


  • Mixing: 1x 32gal Brute trash can
  • Storage: 3x 7gal Aqua-Tainers from Wal-Mart camping section

 
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#3 ·
very organized and neat setup. good luck
just an advice, try to avoid Tap water as much as you can, u will eventullay interduce phosphate into your tank which will lead to a green hair algae. ask your fish retailer store for RO or RO/DI water, or check wallmart for their RO water. phospan reactors is a good investments. Good Luck.

Sami
 
#5 ·
Thanks for your positive responses. About the RO water, I will begin using RO/DI water once my friend finishes getting his RO/DI system set up. For now, I have been much more pleased with the results I've been getting with conditioned tap water than people give it credit for. While not optimal, I don't believe it's the death kiss people tend to think it is. Who am I to say that though haha.

Thanks for your great input!
 
#8 ·
It's fish only with (some) live rock for now. I hope to expand the live rock, then eventually add some corals. The lights are actually the #1 thing holding me back from reef (aside from confidence). I think my manager at work has some lights she might be willing to let me have for a reasonable price though, so more to come on that. I still am going to be waiting though, because if I screw this whole thing up I'd prefer it to not kill hundreds of dollars worth of corals along with the fish.
 
#10 ·
The next rock I added I was going to use base rock and just let it get bacteria and algae on it from the rest of the tank. Would it still cause another cycle if I add base rock? (i will be adding it slowly)

Also, the other thing I had in my mind was, if necessary, I could wait until I have my quarantine tank up and put some live rock in with the new rock to let it cycle in there. I suspect it will be some time before my quarantine tank is up in full swing though, (2mo?) as I am concentrating on the main tank.
 
#11 ·
Alright, I know how much you guys love pictures, so I decided to snap a few before building my sump. If there were a demand for it, I could do a step-by-step for my sump as I build it, but typically in the past doing such a thing has just been a wasted effort.

At any rate, here are the pics.
 

Attachments

#12 ·
Alright, another pic. Turns out my wife had planned on putting the sump under the bar, so I probably could fit a 20gal now. I am gonna be checking into that in the future, for now I have the 10gal one so i'm sticking to that. Looking back on this current one, I will probably be using glass baffles instead of acrylic on the remake as well. I am also considering the possibility of covering that area and MAYBE trying a cheap refugium due to being able to enclose it.

The bar is quite tall, I am considering trying to build a shelf eventually and placing it over the sump, giving me space to store my supplies. I am also CONSIDERING putting a brute on the right side where I had the bar stools in the first pictures.

 
#16 ·
yea..... working on fixing that. hindsight we should have just painted it, but now that will be a challenge haha

also, did not change the lighting, hope to soon but that's also going to be a big project =\
 
#25 ·
nice tank. Yes, +1 on lose the background. Go all blue or all one shade. Anything but... fake fresh water plants and a ....sorry 2 stains or holes.

I mean, its really a nice tank. Its like my friend "Fax Matt" lol

This is something I usually would tell the ladies, but......Also, I wonder... if you put a velcro skirt on this. I wonder...what is would look like. You know, like a banquet skirt or something to cover the buckets.

Just thinking aloud.

We have the same lights. FYI, mine came with a few different things. I dont know if mine was older or newer, but... I had plastic around my cover/protector. Let me know how to set the thing, lol :)

Nice tank - we have almost the same set-up. Your stuff is nicer. I have a 55, same lights, hydor, etc.

S
 
#26 ·
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