Can I add some more fish?

gafish

Member
I have a 55 gallon tank with about 38lbs of live rock, I have had my tank up and running about 5months. I have 2 eel gobys, a porcilin crab, banded coral shrimp, 6 hermits, a yellow tail damsel, clown fish,Lawnmower Goby, and a brittle star.
I'm running a dual bio wheel, protein skimmer, and a 294gph powerhead.
What (if any) fish can I add that will really liven up my tank? :notsure:
 
E

exile415

Guest
I think you can .. maroon clown ? tell us what you want .. agrgressive,peaceful,reefsafe.
 

gafish

Member
The Marron Clown is already in there.
He was one of the first after the tank completed its cycle.
 

norcal

Member
how about a lemonpeel angel?? or maybe a royal gramma. and hey if you are up for a challenge, one of my absolute favorite fish is a purple tile goby......beautiful fish! actually forget the others, just get a purple tilefish goby! :D
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
IMO I would invest in more LR first. It's been the best filtration that money can buy....for me anyways. I'd also consider adding a couple more powerheads for extra circualtion. From your post, it doesn't seem like you have much flow.
 

gafish

Member
How many powerheads should I have?
I've pretty much done my tank on my own, by just asking other tank owners and reading,
please help....
 

loodachris

Member
I agree with Frosty, you are going to want at least another 20-40 lbs. of Live Rock you do not want to be adding and rearranging when you have your tank set up with fish in there. TRUST ME i know from experience. I found it better to add the Live Rock and let the tank run for at least a week before adding fish. And circulation is good. Look into the powerheads that pivot from side to side so you get a larger range of motion. JMO. But unfortunately i came across this site after i set up my tank and was faced with changing the crushed coral to live sand and adding more live rock with my fish already in. Take your time it will be worth it.
 

loodachris

Member
Oh and by the way, a cool fish to add might be a small 2-3 inch Niger Trigger. They are so much fun and just an absolutely awesome fish. Just be careful with what you put it in with. Mine doesnt bother my clown or my yellow tang, but thats just my trigger.
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
The amount of circulation you want as a goal depends on the type of tank you are keeping. If you keep a reef, you want close to 20x flow. If you keep a fish only (FO) tank, you want at least 10x flow.
For example:
In a 50 gallon reef you ideally would want 1000 gallons per hour (gph) turnover on your tank
In a 50 gallon FO tank you ideally want AT LEAST 500gph turnover.
Another important thing to consider is flow spots throughout the tank. You may want high flow in some areas of the tank, and lower flow in some other areas. ALL areas should have decent flow though.
I have a 50g tank. I run four 295gph powerheads, a 300gph filter, and a 100gph protein skimmer.
I have approximately 1580gph flow in my tank, which is about 31x flow. The reason mine is so high is because I am currently battling a cyano (red slime algae) outbreak which I have determined is caused by two reasons....A) Not enough flow in the small spot of the outbreak, and B) Using Kalkwasser to kill Aiptasia (nuisance anemone) which raised my calcium levels a bit too high. Yes, I am also doing frequent small water changes.
 

gafish

Member
Thanks, I will get on that, I need to add another Power Head, I have plenty of filters running just need more flow, thanks for the help, I also need somebody to tell me how to make my own live rock.
 
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