equiptment question

[~chelle70~]

What equipment is needed for a 55 gal tank. I will have fish and live rock. I need to know about lighting. filtration ect.
I was told that you had to have a certain wattage of lighting. Is that true? All advice is appreciated.
Thanks! :happyfish

 

[pontius]

if all you're going to have is fish and rock (meaning no corals), you should get one of the cheaper power compact lights of ----. in fact, with only fish and rock, you could get by with the Walmart lights, though the powercompacts will be a lot prettier and you can get some for less than $100 on ----.
what kind of filter do you have? you can get by with a hang on back filter if you have enough rock and sand for filtration. and you must have a protein skimmer.
you will probably need a heater and a few powerheads. other than that, you'll just need the basic stuff like salt, test kits, additives, food, etc.

 

[cjason3041]

i have a 55gal corner that was fw for some years i converted to sw last aug/sept and i use the same canister filter i had, and the same lights, double strip flourscent, andeverything has been fine, i put in star polyps about 2 months ago and they are still alive ( i do water changes about once a week, 10 gal) and i clean the filter every 2 weeks but i have never had a crash ... came close once but caught it in time... however i am converting to better lighting soon

 

[~chelle70~]

I have a hang on back filter. I was told by someone that I could probably get by with buying a 2nd identical filter. Which would be much cheaper than buying a whole new filter system. I have 40 lbs of sand (20 live and 20 other) But was planning on buying more. The guy that told me to change lights had some that he was going to sell me for $150. He said that they were the white/blue ones that were 250w. (If I remember correctly) Is that a good deal? He said that was for everything. I just talked to him on the phone, I have actually seen them yet.
Right now my tank has been up for about 3-4 months, fish only.

 

[cjason3041]

that sound like a good deal but you had better get info from others i am not to sure, as for the filter i think it would be ok, but i think that you will want to eventually upgrade... i want a big wet dry and a fuge, but i want a bigger tank first

 

[acrylic51]

You could probably get by with your existing filter and adding a 2nd, but would recommend a protein skimmer... They are just as important for FO tanks as well as reef tanks!!!