new 55 gallon reef any suggestios?

S

slofish

Guest
are you looking for tank, fish, coral, filtration or lighting suggestions?
 
fungus19

fungus19

Member
Just looking for some suggestions on things i should be aware of. It will be a 55 gallon reef with a sump, refugium, compact flourescent & metal halide lights, & sand substrate. What kind of test kits are required? What kind of supplements should be added and how often? Should live sand be added at the very begining or let tank cycle first? You can see i'm just looking for info before i get started so I don't make lots of mistakes. SUGGESTIONS WELCOMED!!!
 
mcsd22

mcsd22

Member
I think the best suggestion I can make is stay on this board for a couple of weeks or a month and read, read, read. I wish I had found a site like this before I started. Would of saved tons of time, money and sad to say fish. There are people on here that have so much knowledge about every aspect of saltwater that it will make your head spin. Listen and learn and you will be happy you did. Glad to see your researching first and welcome aboard.
 
matt819

matt819

Member
Add live sand right away...and some live rock, you could even get un cured rock to start your cycle. Then after you add that, just wait a month or so, can be less. You shouldn't really need to dose anything, at least at the beginning. Salifert test kits are suppose to be the best. Just put the sand and rock in and read on here for a month before adding anything. Patience is the biggest thing in the beginning, can't stress that enough. You can even feed the tank a little when there's nothing in it, will help build up your bacteria colonies as it decomposes. Then get 1 or 2 hardy fish, and add them. Don't add anything you don't really want, as they can be hard to get out, and if they're hardy fish, they'll be in there for the entire life of the tank more than likely.
 
matt819

matt819

Member
You can mix it...that's fine. I'd put the live stuff on top and mix it in a little bit. This will just "seed" the normal sand and it too will become live sand eventually.
 
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