Hello, new guy from the midwest!

hedgehog1 · 09/20/2011, 05:47 PM

Dear Reef Central Members,
I have just purchased new equipment for my 55 gallon fresh water tank so I can convert it to a reef tank. Here is some of the major equipment I purchased;Eshopps Wet-Dry Filters WD-100CS, Maxi-Jet Submersible Utility Pumps Model 1800, CSS Super Skimmer Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer 65 gallon, AquaticLife T5 HO and Lunar Light Fixtures 48" (216 watts) Fixture with frame mounts, Fluval E Series Heaters 200 watt with a Micro Temp Controller Heater Controller (also have a 200 watt back up), and 2 Hydor Koralia Evolution Pumps Evolution 750's. I plan on purchasing 75lbs of live rock soon after the equipment arives, I also have 60lbs of live agronite sand. I also have all the extra's like fish food, hydrometer, test kits, glass hood, nets, water conditioner, reef supplement, 200 gallons of salt mix, ect. Did I do a good job with my purchase of equipment? I did lots of research so I hope I did!

I was wondering what corals could I keep, I really want to recreate a coral reef like setting in this tank. I thought I could start with some easy corals and the move on to more difficult ones. Also I was also wondering if I could keep and anemone with corals. I watched some youtube vidoes on reef tanks to get my ideas for stocking and decorating, while doing that I fell in love with anemones, but after further reading found them difficult to keep... still want one though! Also while watching, I fell in love with white stripe maroon clowns! But after further reading on that I found them to be aggresive, and I wanted a peaceful community reef tank. Is there any way around this?

More questions soon to come, thanks for all the replies and help!
Sincerely,
Alexander

Microcosmos · 09/20/2011, 09:09 PM

A lot of this hobby comes down to tough choices, and trial and error. There are plenty of fish that will get along with a maroon clown, but not many that will get along with a maroon and be happy in a 55. For a 55 if you're going full-on reef you don't want too many fish, but I would recommend getting all of your fish to start out as small as possible (juvies, not necessarily fish that stay small), so they can't do much damage to each other and no one is the "boss of the tank." For corals I recommend starting out with frags (small pieces of coral, usually from someone else's tank) and see what grows in your tank before making any large-sized purchases. But we are definitely getting ahead of ourselves, here. You have at least a month of cycling to go through before you add any corals or anemones! And who knows, something cool may just pop up out of your live rock!

And welcome!

hedgehog1 · 09/20/2011, 09:16 PM

Thank you mircocosmos,
I don't think the cycle will take that long as a have a friend into the salt water thing too, he said he would give me tank water and some live rock to help seed my aquarium, so hopefully the time will be cut down. Thanks for your info though, bummed about the maroon clown, ocellaris will have to do!

Sincerely,
Alex

09/20/2011, 05:47 PM	#1
hedgehog1 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 20	Hello, new guy from the midwest! Dear Reef Central Members, I have just purchased new equipment for my 55 gallon fresh water tank so I can convert it to a reef tank. Here is some of the major equipment I purchased;Eshopps Wet-Dry Filters WD-100CS, Maxi-Jet Submersible Utility Pumps Model 1800, CSS Super Skimmer Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer 65 gallon, AquaticLife T5 HO and Lunar Light Fixtures 48" (216 watts) Fixture with frame mounts, Fluval E Series Heaters 200 watt with a Micro Temp Controller Heater Controller (also have a 200 watt back up), and 2 Hydor Koralia Evolution Pumps Evolution 750's. I plan on purchasing 75lbs of live rock soon after the equipment arives, I also have 60lbs of live agronite sand. I also have all the extra's like fish food, hydrometer, test kits, glass hood, nets, water conditioner, reef supplement, 200 gallons of salt mix, ect. Did I do a good job with my purchase of equipment? I did lots of research so I hope I did! I was wondering what corals could I keep, I really want to recreate a coral reef like setting in this tank. I thought I could start with some easy corals and the move on to more difficult ones. Also I was also wondering if I could keep and anemone with corals. I watched some youtube vidoes on reef tanks to get my ideas for stocking and decorating, while doing that I fell in love with anemones, but after further reading found them difficult to keep... still want one though! Also while watching, I fell in love with white stripe maroon clowns! But after further reading on that I found them to be aggresive, and I wanted a peaceful community reef tank. Is there any way around this? More questions soon to come, thanks for all the replies and help! Sincerely, Alexander

09/20/2011, 09:16 PM	#3
hedgehog1 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 20	Thanks Thank you mircocosmos, I don't think the cycle will take that long as a have a friend into the salt water thing too, he said he would give me tank water and some live rock to help seed my aquarium, so hopefully the time will be cut down. Thanks for your info though, bummed about the maroon clown, ocellaris will have to do! Sincerely, Alex

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09/20/2011, 09:09 PM	#2
Microcosmos Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Hagerstown, MD, USA Posts: 328	A lot of this hobby comes down to tough choices, and trial and error. There are plenty of fish that will get along with a maroon clown, but not many that will get along with a maroon and be happy in a 55. For a 55 if you're going full-on reef you don't want too many fish, but I would recommend getting all of your fish to start out as small as possible (juvies, not necessarily fish that stay small), so they can't do much damage to each other and no one is the "boss of the tank." For corals I recommend starting out with frags (small pieces of coral, usually from someone else's tank) and see what grows in your tank before making any large-sized purchases. But we are definitely getting ahead of ourselves, here. You have at least a month of cycling to go through before you add any corals or anemones! And who knows, something cool may just pop up out of your live rock! And welcome!