how does this look for my tank. . .

[rubberduck]

i am moving and in the prosess of upgrading from a 30 gallon- 55 gallon and putting the 30 gallon as a fuge in the stand that i made. i wanted to know that since i wat to have sps/clams/lps in my tank i need specific requirements to keep these beatiful corls alive and im aiming for thiving. now i dont have a drilled tank so i will have an hob overflow with a mag 7 pump. my question is that is that are these appliences ok for my future dreams.
55 gallon supplies list
mh coralife/aqua actinic setup
75 pounds lr
2 powersweep power heads (400 gph each)
4" sandbed
30 gallon fuge
10 pounds baserock
mad 7 return pump(650 gph)
cpr overflow(650 gph)
2 heaters
kent marine aquadose with kalkwisser (2.5 gallon)
4 " sandbed
misc.
coralife night/day timer (8 slots and two dials)
american marine temp. sensor in fuge

 

[wax32]

I'd try to get an overflow rated for MORE than your return pump, if the flow gets restricted in your overflow at all, you could have an overflow of a different kind. Looks good otherwise.

 

[rubberduck]

thx wax, so should i upgrade my cpr overflow to like 700 gph. cool will do, also i might have a regulating pipe where i can tweak till perfect. thx wax i have been a huge fan of your tank, and am srry about katrina. i saw your thread and it looks good, i also will be posting a thread on my stand.
ps. wax how much did all the hardwear cost on your tank, only ghardwear.. :thinking:
travis

 

[wax32]

Thanks for the praise.

Tank 400, stand 250, MH 400, custom made sump 100, eheim return 160, tunze stream 370, chiller 300, blueline closed loop pump 150, various hoses and pipes and valves and stuff 200
All this is rough, not exact. Maybe add another 200 bucks for rounding errors and stuff I've forgotten to mention. Shhh. Don't tell my wife.

 

[rubberduck]

thx alot wax for the help. i followed your whoile set up thread and i loved it, also what are some key facts that you used to help keep clams and sps thriving not merely surviving. thx again, plus how do i post a paint picture? it says it is invalid.

 

[wax32]

You need to make it a .jpg instead of a .bmp The size also matters... can be no more than 500 pixels on it's largest dimension.
I must say, my experience with a clam was a bad one. My wife bought me a T. crocea for my birthday and it died a few days later. My cherub angel picked at it and my hermits ate it. Not sure if the angel caused it's death or it was just not acclimated well enough or what. As far as SPS, I only kept the few of them for about a month before katrina, so I'm not real experienced. Main thing is lots of light, good water quality and lots of flow.
In my reef now I have 48x turnover rate. So far the one SPS I bought about a week ago is looking good.

 

[rubberduck]

here is the paint picture does it look alright for a working tank, i want the moving powerheads to be focused around the top of the rockwork and that way high flow on top and medium flow on the bottom ***)

ohh and about 15X turnover rate too low?

 

[wax32]

Looks nice! Where's your skimmer going? Mine would be in the left chamber of the sump as it is drawn in your picture.

 

[rubberduck]

would you recommend a skimmer, yes im only 15 and i dont have too many 100's of dollars laying around lol

but i was going for the coralif skimmer due to it has god filtering cappabilities and it does not overskim leaving a decent amount of nutrients, how many lvl would you recommend, i will probably be staking to the near top for full flow and best light, woulnt this be pushing 100 pounds, also what about the fact that i have 12 inches to work with

so clams will have to be in front and lr stacked in back, any ideas
what about any ideasfor more flow wax, ps. since you are helping me maybe..... just maybe you could post a full tank shot. i would love to see it ***)

 

[rubberduck]

well.. im working on my stand today and im stilll wandering if vho would be better for growing caulopra than pc, and would 18 hour lighting cycle be better than a 24 hour one,
what are the best sps corals for the look and for the hardiness. any advice as to keep the tank good,
also should i buy lr at my lfs for 5$ a pound or should i risk ordering it offline? what wouls you recommend, i can cure while cycling, and i also think the coralife supperskimmer is right for me, i will probably put it where wax aid right at my left side of my fuge,
should i do multiple inches of sandbed in the fuge and how deep does a pistol need its sandbed?
wih good curculation keep the curing smell down? any advice on any of these is appreciated.
thx, travis

also is this a ok livestock list
2 true perculas paired
4 bangi(sp) cardnial fish 2 pairs
and a watchman/ tiger pistol shrimp duo
anyone???!!? plz help if you have any ideas this is not only for wax....

 

[wax32]

Ahh! I forgot the skimmer! Mine cost 250ish I got the EuroReef RS5-2. I highly recommend it. I bought my LR from the LFS. That way you can pick big HUGE pieces that look cool.
My sandbed is a couple inches deep... the pistol shrimp moves it around to his liking, mostly under some small rocks I have in the tank.
I just use a shop light with a screw-in compact fluorescent bulb that has sunlight wavelength (from walmart).
The corallife skimmer has been getting good reviews and should work fine for ya.
I have a 6 inch sandbed in my fuge, seems to work well.
Nothing keeps the curing smell down. Part of the experience!
Bang Guy is the one to ask for specifics about Banggai Cardinals, I have no experience. The other fish are good choices for sure.
As far as Coral choices... pick up Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman. It's an awesome book.
Latest shot, and one from before Katrina:

11-12-05

8-17-05

 

[wax32]

I cry every time I look at the August shot. My tank was looking GOOD! The 70 had only been set up one month before Katrina took it out... everything was in my old 29 gallon before that.

 

[rubberduck]

love it.. BTW i already have worlds corals, awsome book I LOVED IT. detailed description. read it 3 times lol - oww your tank is coming along nicly, yeah im think im going with the coralife skimmer, i just dont want to overskim and its only a 55 gallon tank, yeah i realy need to talk about breeding perculas and banggia(plz forgive my butcher of the word) those would be great little projects.
yeah thx bunches wax, what kind of suppliments do i add to my tank, im not going to add reef builder due to the relativly low evaporation (supposably, havent set the tank up yet)
and lets see if they consume enough to need it, also as you might know im a broke teen (500 $$ to start with appliences and a lil lr) so in the future i will need LOTS more, sooooo. . . . maybe off the internet might be a better choice. what is better volume or best size and shape. hmmmmmmm i think i can predict the outcome.
cool fill me in.. hows that mh setup doing and do you use photoshop to give you your "signature" pics

travis "wax wannabee" LOL

 

[rubberduck]

Originally Posted by wax32
I cry every time I look at the August shot. My tank was looking GOOD! The 70 had only been set up one month before Katrina took it out... everything was in my old 29 gallon before that.
you should have seen my expresion when i read your sad post......
that day i was like dang where was waxes posts, so i looked it up for eye candy and i was sooo sad for you .
im srry that must be sooo sad

 

[wax32]

I don't add any additives. I have some B-Ionic that I plan to add once I get some corals in there using up calcium.
I love the MH pendant, it is my favorite piece of gear for the tank! Close second would be the EuroReef.

Yes I use photoshop to adjust the color (pictures come out WAY blue) and to make the border. I also sometimes crop, but usually the picture is full frame.

 

[rubberduck]

cool this is becoming im lol yeah i think i just figured out that most my earlier tank pictures have bbeen erased

its sucks, i had awsome pictures, ohh well i will probley have to dig them out of past threads,
well im sure that doesnt compare to what you went through.
there are some strange creatures i want to keep, imight run at the harqullem shrimp (gosh i suck at spelling!) and maybe some other need creatures, what do u think, ever had to keep hard exotic creatures?
my harks wil probey be in my fuge and they will feed on chocoate chip stars kept in a side tank, these stars (roughly 4-5 in number) wil take turns being mr. dinner to the shrimp and be swiched out to heal, hopfuly this is the most humane may to keep these shrimp. what do ya think ?
travis
ohh and whouldnt there be the fact of overskimming, i know sps has needs for cean water but also they have huge (and completely underrated by most) need for nutrients
which would be stripped with a fancy skimmer

 

[wax32]

I don't think so. All the serious SPS tanks have SERIOUS skimmers. You'd be surprised how much dirtier our tanks are than what the corals want.
I never liked the idea of keeping CC stars for harlequin shrimp food, but if you are ok with it, go for it.

I think keeping cc stars and harlequin shrimp in your fuge defeats the purpose of having a fuge in the first place.
But, everyone is different.

 

[rubberduck]

llol ok im not thinking striegt today yeah having ccs in a fuge is kindoff pointless. thx wax. lol wow, anywho i was afraid of you saying that about skimmers, now i have to buy one.

thx alot. yeah hey what are other stuff i could go into, something maybe off the beaten path, how much are the backpacks, forgot the name.

 

[wax32]

For a 55 you could do a aquaC remora. That's a hang on back and runs around 160. If you go with that you would hang it on the back of your display. The coralife in-sump skimmers seem to be getting good reviews though, so don't give up on it, if you want to do a sump/fuge. Ask around and find someone that has one.

 

[rubberduck]

so a aquac remora that you have is ony $200 or did i read that wrong, if its hob could i still put it in my sump? would that work,. how many gph would you suggest for a pump and unverflow if i want sps?
cool also how much are hob closed loop systems? i think i have heard that most are diy projects with like a mag, i heard you are going into zoos as your tank to be based around, are you going for the blue zoos. those woud be sweet. in the future would you like to trade? what are some good critters to be put ina sump, aka clams ect. any problems you have heard about that i need to look out for,
also how much does r run down in florida?