My plans for 55 gallon SW

[Molino]

I've been doing a fair bit of reading to determine what equipment I need and also which brands skimmers, pumps, etc are good choices... I already have my 55 gallon tank which currently has standard flourescent lighting.

Here is my equipment plan:

LiveRock

I'm thinking 40 or so lbs may do. I'd like enough to make a layout similar to the following (tank is 48" long by 12" deep):

Substrate

Roughly 40-50 lbs of somewhat small Aragonite/crushed coral to keep the ph up around 8.3 Maybe a little live sand mixed in...

Powerheads

I'm considering two options here:

1) 2 Maxi-Jet 1200 (295 GPH each = 590 GPH total) - one on each side of tank

2) 1 Seio 820 Powerhead (820 GPH) - is one good for a 4 foot tank? The GPH would is higher than the other option, but the flow would all be coming from one powerhead... Maybe two of the smaller ones (Seio 620 Powerhead - 620 GPH each).

If more circulation is required I could leave an AquaClear on the tank (without it's filter media).

Skimmer

Hang on the back Remora Pro.

Lighting

Initially I'll probably just start off with the standard lights I have in now, but I'd like to upgrade the lighting so that I could keep some corals. Not a Reef tank, one with some low maintenance easy to keep corals. Maybe some Featherdusters and other stuff...

48" AquaLight 4-65W (260Watts)

or would 48" AquaLight 2-65W (130Watts) be enough to keep some corals?

Whew, I hope that's not too many questions :boxed:

[albert_dao]

If this is your first shot at SW, I'd nix the substrate. It will save you such much grief and hassle.

Don't make any misconceptions about live sand. REAL live sand is pretty much unavailable anywhere in Western Canada. I've checked.

http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=5084

That pretty much covers my rant on substrates and how to incorporate them into your tank later on.

But all things aside, if do plan on going with a substrate anyway, ditch the crush coral. It has no place in the marine hobby for many reasons including high organic phosphate counts and poor surface texture.

If you get power heads, go for either of the two SEIO arrangements. There's no way to accurately describe the significance of how much better these stream pumps are than the classic linear pump. You'd just have to see it for yourself.

Lighting is fine.

[Molino]

Thanks for the reply. For esthetics I think I will put in substrate, but maybe just a thin layer of Aragonite. Aragonite is not the same as crushed coral is it?

Seio pumps seem to be highly recommended. I think I'll probably go with the 2 Seio 620 Powerheads - 620 GPH each. That's not too much current is it?

[albert_dao]

Nope. The flow is very different from your standard powerheads.

[thefishdude]

The flow is very different from your standard powerheads

how so exactly??

[albert_dao]

Standard powerheads have a linear flow, that is, a jet streaming from their output.

Stream style powerheads produce a cone shape flow out of a much larger output. In essense, they create turbulence in the entire water column as opposed to a localized current.

Think of it in terms of blowing really hard through a straw vs. turning on a 19" fan.

Ther other difference is just numbers. Larger models of most standard powerheads hit the 300-450 gph range. The smallest SEIO sports a cool 600 gph.

[thefishdude]

thanx for clearing that up...