possible idea for tank?

[ivy2dw7]

I'm not much of a marine expert, but I could spend an hour easily lecturing about freshwater cichlids. I have the chance of purchasing a 55g tank (48"x13"x20something") and I'm trying to come up with different setups I could do with it. My main questions are: is a 55g big enough to have multiple species? and do saltwater tanks smell? This tank would be going in my 9'x12' bedroom, very enclosed space, so any stench would have no chance of escaping.
Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[snipe]

55 is big enough to house multiple "small" species of fish but if your wanting large fish (I.E. tangs, butterflies, hawks and so on) you want something around 125 or bigger. Try and google search for newbie fish and it will give you a list of some or try and search for nano fish. Also so far my tank dont smell but I dont have anything in there but live sand and water and a few empty shells.

 

[blemmy_guy]

check out the photo section here on the boards also, there are a lot of 55 gal tanks there to look at and get ideas. good luck todd