New 55 gallon SW

dgodwin

dgodwin

Large Fish
#3
Dec 2, 2002
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Buffalo, NY
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#3
What kind of lighting do you have for the tank? That'll be the biggest deciding factor. A FO can have as much or as little light as you want. To do a reef with mostly soft corals, I would recommend at least 110w of either vho or pc flourescent lighting.
 

C

Corax

New Fish
#10
Mar 23, 2004
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#10
Some say a skimmer actually hinders a reef because the microscopic critters get chewed up by the impeller.. Not a good thing when you have filter feeders.

One thing I see that is going to be a problem though, is the speaker beside the tank. High decibel levels and fishtanks are not a good idea. Not only will it bother the fish, it can vibrate your rockwork apart..

Oh and for your question, FO or reef... If you have to think about which way to go, then the choice is obvious. Go FO, because a reef takes a LOT of dedication and experience to make thrive. What I would suggest, is doing an FO with fish that will adapt well to corals coming in later.
 

S

scrubaholics

Large Fish
#11
Sep 9, 2003
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Wilmington, NC
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#11
the thing is though, I work for a fish/pet store and I do the SW order. I can get anything I want at cost, which is really cheap if you are familar that the average mark-up for SW stuff is 4 times what the cost is.

Most of my live rock is just plain base rock, not Fiji or anything good. Is this another reason to stay with FO? Or do corals not need good rock?

I have 1 Emperor 400 on the tank, will this be ok for my tank?

Oh yea and the speaker doesn't even work anymore. =)
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#12
Dec 1, 2003
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Michigan
#12
Base rock technically is live rock with not a lot of stuff visibly growing on it. However it still contains the bacteria of the decorative live rock. This is fine ropck for corals.

The Emperor 400 will be fine on your tank. Please get a protein skimmer whether its a FO or Reef.

Sam Reef
________________
90 Gallon FOWLR
20 Gallon Reef
10 Gallon Reef
10 Gallon FOWLR
20 Gallon Freshwater Planted Aquarium
 

S

supahtim

Large Fish
#13
Jun 30, 2003
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Toronto
#13
the choice is yours. that's one heck of a lot of lighting for a FO though...you'd be able to put a lot of nice looking corals in there...although you'd still have to stay away from clams and most sps and lps. but hey...i've seen a LOT of very nice looking softies tanks out there! it's awesome to see everything flowing in the current.

if you do decide to go with corals, please make sure that you get reef-safe fish if you decide to get the fish before the coral.

your rock work looks awesome though. how many pounds do you have in there?

Tim
 

S

scrubaholics

Large Fish
#14
Sep 9, 2003
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Wilmington, NC
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#14
not even sure how much rock it is! I bought it off a guy all for $50. I got a great deal. I have known people without skimmers that have had decent reef tanks. Is it really really necessary or just a really good idea? Thanks for the compliment on the rock setup Tim. I need one more big rock in there for that middle opening. Or maybe just throw a big flower pot right there or something. Also, I threw 3 turbo snails and 3 redleg hermits in on the first day of setup. What do you people think the chances of them living through the cycle are? I know i hear people say wait atleast 2 weeks for snails/crabs but wanted to know if anyone had success from the beginning of the cycle.
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#15
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
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#15
They're very handy ,especially if you're a beginner as they get you out of a lot of trouble with overfeeding and so on. But if you have a nice diverse, mature tank and do water changes you can go without. You just have to think about what you're doing and don't expect miracles.
The chances of your crabs getting through is entirely dependant on how dieoff your rock is experiencing. It's absolutely possible.
 

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