The ideal equipment list?

[tk]

Have had a 55 full of water since August. My first tank, and so far it's going "fairly well." Water tests whereit should. I've got a couple of ornery blue damsels, a nice yellow tang, a brittle star, a bunch of turbos, 5 shaving brushes and three emerald crabs. The only problem is that "Bruno" the crab occassionally eats a turbo.

So far, I've got:
12 pounds of lr, going to add more
20 pounds of ls over some gravel
a marginally adequate Prizm skimmer
no powerheads
a hob charcoal filter
good heater
sh---y fl lighting although I've got nice Coralife (lunar), 4x65 PCs on the way...
no sump/ref; no RO unit for water - (been using tap)
I want to end up with a healthy fish/inverts display with maybe a couple of coral.

I need to tap your combined infinate wisdom and experience. I've a reasonably good budget, lots of time and a "fairly" understanding wife... What should I toss and what other equipment do you guys think I need to add, before I go any farther?
Thanks in advance... TK

 

[watson3]

20lbs of sand sounds nowhere near enough...Is the bottom covered?

 

[fbm]

I would seriously consider starting over with RO water it will save you severe headache with algea in the near future. I filled my tank with tap water and had severe algea outbreaks that are finally under control now. But maybe you will get lucky and not have any problems.
Also I would say you would want at least 3 to 4 times more live sand, or put dead sand in there and it will come alive.
Also shoot to increase you flowrate to at least 800+ gallons per hour to help with filtration and to keep algea from getting out of control.
Just a few of the things I can think off.

 

[tk]

not quite... I would add more but, I'd need to move the fish for a few days until it settles, wouldn't I?

 

[tk]

The sand is over 2-3inches of gravel. I figured the gravel should become "live", although I'd still like to add more sand.
How do I increase the flow rate?

 

[purebullet]

ok first get yourself a good ro/di unit
next you want about 1 pound of rock per gallon so look to add some more to get about 55
also i would recomend adding more sand because 20lbs cant be nearly enough
next for flow you add powerheads i would recomend looking at the new tunze nano streams maby 2 6025s would be good
the lighitng your getting will be good to get softies, lps, you could maby even get away with some sps
as for a skimmer for hang on back i can only think of coralife super skimmer (get 125 or 220) or remora pro...if you realy have alot of $$$ to shell out deltec makes a hob skimmer now
if you decided to add a sump you can get alot differnt skimmers and hide alot more of your equipment
i hope this helps you out

 

[purebullet]

also if u deiced not to get a sump i would recomened getting a hang on back refugium beacuse i believe they can realy do alot for your water quality

 

[tk]

Thanks PB, every little bit of info helps!
I'm ordering a Kent RO/DI unit today; probably "retire" the skimmer I have and get an Aqua C Rem. I'm adding 40# of cured Fugi LR for sure, now that I have some lighting, plus another 20# of sand; I should be able to slowly add it directly to the DT without killing anything, right?
As far as powerheads: You use the PHs just for water circulation within the tank, is that right? I've never really understood their purpose.

I've read of the new tunze powerheads. Where online could I get a look at one of them?
I'll add a sump/ref later, when I get this stuff sorted out.
Thanks again PB! I'll let youknow how it's going...
TK

 

[1knight164]

Originally Posted by tk
Thanks PB, every little bit of info helps!
As far as powerheads: You use the PHs just for water circulation within the tank, is that right? I've never really understood their purpose.
TK
Water needs to flow into all those holes in your live rock so the bacteria in them can do their job breaking down waste. You don't want dead spots in your tank. Someone said in a post, just think about a reef in the ocean, how turbulent it gets with currents and waves. The rock, sand, coral, and fish need the movement.