My 55gal New Tank (1st timer)

[sambucus]

Hello everyone, gonna kinda diary my adventures in setting up my 55 gallon Tank here and give you pics along the way. I'm getting into saltwater after having a 36 gal freshwater for 3 years now, kinda need a new/bigger challenge. My tank has been up for one week now here's some pics of it.
This is Day 4 of the Tank, Bought some crushed coral and 2 bags of live sand carribean oolite sand.

This is my 1st piece of LR from my local fish shop, notice the large maroon object off to the right, It's a Clam!!, so far so good, he's still alive after day 5. Also some nice plants and a small yellow sponge on this piece of LR. Got this piece of rock as it was one day shipped from the carribean, went to the local fish shop after they called me, as they opened up the boxes, I was there to get 1st pick!

Here's another shot of the clam I took this morning after feeding him and the sponge with Kent micro-vert. Hope he stays alive, but I have my doubts :/

Here's a shot of my aquascaping I did after I recieved my 35 pounds of Fiji LR and some smaller pieces of Tonga LR (white rock full of nice corraline algae)

Here's a full wide shot of the tank! aquascaped for now, but will be doing some rearranging at some point. And my tank inhabitants Mr. Clarkii a small yellowtail damsel and a small humbug Damsel

Here's a shot of my Protein skimmer hard at work and the back of the aquarium.

Sorry about the semi Blurry photos didn't turn out to well, I'll have to work on my picture taking. Anyone have any suggestions would be great, Tank is just starting to breakout with some brown algae/diatoms. I know about probably shouldn't have put fish in, but i'm to impatient and I had to see if they can survive the cycle, hell they survived living at a *****, I'm sure they'll survive a Tank cycle.
Thanks for looking and please post any comments or what you've experienced setting up a new tank.

 

[kclester]

what kind of skimmer is that and whats the price on it ?.........really nice start

 

[rbrockm1]

you don't really have to run your protein skimmer at the beginning of your tank setup. its personal prefrence. looks good. i didn't see the clam tho.

 

[barchtruong]

Originally Posted by kclester
what kind of skimmer is that and whats the price on it ?.........really nice start
SeaClone skimmers work great at the the beginning for about........uh....I say, amonth, then it starts going nuts on you.
I started out with a SeaClone 100 and, sure did, I had to replaced it with Coralife 125. That's a serious toy.

 

[trigger11]

Starting to look pretty good. Keep the pictures coming. Everyone likes pictures.
If you should set up a new tank please consider cycling the tank without using fish. Ammonia is extremely toxic to them and burns their gills. And while it is a good thing the fish lived, it is highly likely their lifespan has been shortened. Just my 2 cents.
Welcome to the boards and the most addictive hobby on the planet.

 

[sambucus]

Thanks for all the great responses!! Yes that is a seaclone 100 skimmer, goes for about $100, so far so good, i've read lots of mixed reviews on it, yet Dawman a frequent poster on these forums uses 4 of them and loves them, so? I'll weigh in after about 2 months on it. As for my Clam picture trying to get a good shot of him. I went to my LFS today and talked to a guy about it. Weird thing is he opens up from the sides kinda and seems to be attached from the bottom, there's no opening on the top. He thought it might be a scallop, I need experts advice, I wanna know just what the heck I have. One thing I know on it, it's from the carribean, other then that I don't know anything else.

 

[sambucus]

2 Months into it!
And i'm beginning to realize I have some issues with my tank

, specifically filtration issues. I have no sump! and the H.O.T. Magnum filter and seaclone 100 skimmer aren't going to cut it, so my question is so many choices for sump systems, i'm kinda overwhemled on what I want to get and how exactly they work. I'd love to see pictures of your sump setups, post here plz!!
Here's pics of my Algae filled tank, green algae scraped daily, yet all parameters test out good phosphate 0, nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, ammonia 0, PH 8.3
Specific grav 1.024, calcium 410pp. Learning daily and haven't lost any livestock yet! well a snail and a crab

Converting to RO water also after my LFS told me I could use tapwater, but gonna try out RO water cuz this algae issue sux

 

[alex4286]

u need a MUCH LARGER cleanup crew. get more hermits & snails for starters. how many do u have so far? what are your water change rituals?

 

[sambucus]

Cyanobacteria!!!

 

[sambucus]

Cleanup crew is this 2 emerald crabs, 3 astrea snails, 2 mexican turbos, 6 nassrius snails, 6 blue/red hermit crabs, 2 sand conchs = 21 critters seems pretty good crew no? water changes have been 5 gallon changes about every 9 days.

 

[limitedslip]

If your having algae problems like that, you might want to try a sump under the tank, a 10 gallon sump would do it. Also, what kind of lighting are you using? Flouresents are Algae magnets. From the pictures, it looks like you have a really small filtration system, and I would recommened you upgrade that fist to fix you algae problem. If that doesnt help, lighting or RO/DI.
I wouldnt say its lack of a cleanup crew, because my algae growth is minimal, and I dont have a cleanup crew because I have an aggressive tank.
RO/DI would help, but, tap wouldnt be causing that extensive algae growth unless your not doing water changes, RO/DI would be causeing more flucuations in your parameters.

 

[babyb]

is it near a window, that will cause algea, also u mught not have enough flow in your tank and thats why you have the red algea in your sand

 

[maxalmon]

If you can get a nice big clump of chaeto, just toss it into the tank, it's a cheap fix and may help for a while. Don't worry about it floating around, once you get a sump put together you can move it. The chaeto will actually consume some of the nutrients that are creating the algae problem. How much are you feeding? consider cutting back a little. Try and find some cerith snails or turbos

 

[sambucus]

Thanx yall for the responses i'm running a current usa lighting 4 x 65 watt setup new bulbs, month old now, I haven't ever heard flourescents as a algae contributer before.
I actually have tossed a clump of chaeto in my tank, you can see it in one of the pictures and it has slowly disengrated over the past 3 weeks

Feeding I try to limit it to 2 times daily small doses.
Tank is semi near a morning lit window but the shades are always drawn, I'm leaning more and more towards a insufficient filtration system, but IDK is it semi normal to get big blooms like this in a 2month old tank?

 

[quakstar]

If when you were using your tap water if you are using a well or just have had hard water around your area that could be a large contributor to the algae. Plus bulk up the clean up crew lot more blue leg hermits will take care of the cyane alge on the sand and get you a magnavore which will make your glass an easy clean... Plus don't let the slow start get you down it will take some time to get the total hang of it...
Good luck
Keep asking these guys and you will have a beautiful tank in somewhat near future

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by sambucus
Thanx yall for the responses i'm running a current usa lighting 4 x 65 watt setup new bulbs, month old now, I haven't ever heard flourescents as a algae contributer before.
I actually have tossed a clump of chaeto in my tank, you can see it in one of the pictures and it has slowly disengrated over the past 3 weeks

Feeding I try to limit it to 2 times daily small doses.
Tank is semi near a morning lit window but the shades are always drawn, I'm leaning more and more towards a insufficient filtration system, but IDK is it semi normal to get big blooms like this in a 2month old tank?
Oh my, yes. This is why we do not recommend buying life besides certain fish after the cycle. The tank will be unstable for at least six to eight months. The more you add or disturb the tank, the longer it will take. There will be all kinds of different algae blooms.

 

[sambucus]

The latest and greatest from my 55 semi reef tank.