oppinions and advice needed

[yote]

I'm finally getting started on swapping my 55gal freshwater over to reef and want to y'alls opinions. I'm planning on trying to keep a few soft corals,LPS,and some of the easier SPS corals. As far as fish go,just planning on a
1-bicolor blenny
2-ocellaris clowns
1-six line wrasse
1 maybe 2 yellowhead jawfish
1-serpent star
Then of course a good cleaner crew.
The system;
nove extreme 48" 432 watt t-5 light
2- emperor 400's
2-magnum 350 canisters,,,,,mostly for water flow
coralife superskimmer 220
With a 5 to 6 inch sand bed and 50 to 60 lbs of live rock.

Let me know what yall think .

oh yeah,,,,gotta have a BTA also later on after its all up and running and stabilized.

[JellyMan]

You dont need a BTA clowns will host corals as well, you need more rock if the rock in your tank is live you can go out and buy base at a much cheaper rate and just let whats in there now seed it. I would go with at least 40 lbs more of rock, and your going to want at least two powerheads. Other than that sounds like it will be a killer setup.

[Bifferwine]

Sounds good to me. I have those lights -- I like them. I second JellyMan's opinion, ditch the canister filters and replace them with powerheads. Even though I cleaned my Magnum every week, my nitrates dropped by 10 when I removed it altogether.

[yote]

Thanks jelly and bifferwine. I just like the BTAs,,my seba clown thats in my 30gal loves the one I got for her.
I am going to run a couple of maxi-jet 1200's. Would 4 maxi-jets along with the emperors be to much flow?
Would clams do alright under t-5s? The wife keeps bugging about a clam,but I want to make sure I got enough light for em,being as MH are not an option.

[Bifferwine]

You have a 55-gallon right? 400+ watts of T5s in a 55 should be fine for clams. My LFS got rid of their halides completely about six months ago and only use T5s now. He keeps everything in the store under them and all the livestock, including clams and SPS, looks great. He swears by them and says that you can keep anything you want under T5s so long as you have enough light. I know some people will disagree, but my LFS proves it, they have tons of beautiful clams and have kept them long-term in dispaly tanks under T5s.

[yote]

Thanks bifferwine,that will make my wife happy. She's always telling my I need more color

[jhnrb]

Yote your plan sounds good. Just take it slow and add one thing at a time equipment and animals and see as you go how it works out. Watch you bio load and test water parameters. Make sure you give the sytem a chance to catch up on the bio load between new additions corals as well as fish. good luck and keep us posted.

[yote]

Finally got the last few fish outta the 55. Took all the gravel out,and the plants. going to wash it out good tomorrow .
I forgot how much trouble taking one dawn can be.

[bkv1997]

Thats what club members are for yote....

Let us know if you ever need help with anything.

Brandon

[yote]

Thanks Brandon,, I'll keep that in mind.
I had plenty of help actually,,just the wrong kind of help from my 3 year old daughter,,lol.
Got a 50lb bag of sand from lowes this morning,done the vinegar test on it. It fizzed so I washed it good and got it in the tank.
Gonna start putting in the base rock about the middle of the week.
The hardest part of this hobby is going slow.