54 Gallon Stocking Questions???

[Dominic]

I'm starting up a 54 Gallon Corner Salt Tank- Need some advice.

Gonna start with Live Rock- Any particular area of the world better than others, or is home grown just as good??

How long does it take to Cure live rock??

How much would I need??-I was told 1Lb per gallon Aprox.

I would like to do Corals,soft and hard, Clams,Starfish Etc. also I like the look of cleaner and blood shrimp.

What livestock would mostly stay away from Corals and shrimps???

Algae control??? The only methods I know are Gobies for Bottom and Snails for Glass any others????

Livestock???? That size tank, Perculas????

I'm not crazy about Wrasses they tend to be jumpers!

I'm avoiding large Fish obviously!

Do I need a Protein Skimmer on that size tank or will extra water changes be enough???

I've always used the Red Sea Skimmers are they still a good brand???

I'll probly just run my Rena XP2 on it. Is that enough Flow????

Would I have to run a Small Powerhead????

Should I run Open-water???

I'll probly run a T5 light is that sufficient for most corals???

So many questions feel free to answer then for me!

Thanks

[Dominic]

I guess no one wants to help me out. :cry:

[finaddict]

I would say get a few good books...

The conscientious Marine aquarist, by robert fenner

and- natural reef Aquariums

by-john H. tullock

they will answer alot of ?

there are so many variables with salt water.

[Osprey]

My apologies; I had typed out a response, and then the system deleted everything when I tried to add a link. I ran out of time to re-type everything (which I always find annoying, anyway). Here are some responses, but as mentioned, you'll need to do a lot of research on your own, beyond forum inquiries. The books mentioned by Finaddict are excellent, so is www.wetwebmedia.com

Get live rock from a number of different areas for greater bio-diversity, if you can. Every rock type has it's bonuses and quirks. If you buy your rock pre-cured, it won't take long before your tank will be cycled, but if you buy it from a shipper that transports everything dry, it will reek up the house for a long time. Rubbermaid tubs are good for curing rock in (make sure you include a powerhead for flow). You can buy anywhere from 1-2 lbs per gallon, depending on the type of rock and your livestock list. If you don't want to have to buy a lot of rock, stay well away from obligate 'pod eaters, like dragonets and scooter blennies.

You'll need powerheads (yes, multiple powerheads). The goal in a reef tank is random, turbulent flow. You can accomplish this by pointing the heads directly at each other. I recommend buying Tunze powerheads. One powerhead alone will create laminar flow, which is likely to damage corals.

If you get a T-5, make sure it has a parabolic reflector. There's no point in buying a T-5 with a rectangular one, it may as well be any other type of ordinary fluorescent. Softies are fine under T-5's... stonies might be more demanding. I believe clams require MH (or LED, but that's uber-expensive). If you're thinking about MH, make sure you take the increased heat into account; you may end up needing to buy a chiller.

You'll need to thoroughly research livestock choices. However, cleaner shrimp are a good choice, as are the smaller clowns (like the percs you mentioned). I would also suggest the royal gramma and bangaii cardinal as good options for a reef tank your size.

Make sure you get a good skimmer... can't stress that enough.

Edited April 10, 2007 by Osprey

[Dominic]

Thanks for the info, I've read lots of books on this subject already. I actually started in the hobby with salt tanks. My largest was 230 Gallon.

I've never had a small salt tank just large ones so it's a bit different. Also about the algae control anything for glass besides snails???

Also should you run open water on Salt tanks or does it matter???

Edited April 16, 2007 by Dominic