Check it out.....

[dolphins8426]

Another 20-30 lbs of live rock. I could deff put another 30lbs in but it is going to be tight. Not to mention I am going to have to move other rock around to make it all work. Would it be safe to add like 5-10lbs at a time every week or two? Its going to be cured live rock but whats the most I could add at once? Could I add all 20lbs at once or would that be a shock to my system?

 

[reeffreak]

I say if its fully cured then you can add it all at once.You can smell it,if it smells fresh the its cured,if it stinks,its not.Nothing wrong with adding one piece at a time.Believe it or not,the live rock is your main biological filtration.I feel that at least 1.5lbs per gallon will allow you stock your tank moderately.

 

[Bifferwine]

The more rock you have, the better filtration you have and the more fish you can keep.

I kept 13 fish in my old 55 gallon. But don't try that at home kids, I was constantly battling high nitrates. The fish that you have right now are on the smallish side, I'd say you could safely add at least 4 more, but do it slowly. Only add one or two fish at a time, then wait a couple weeks before adding the next ones.

 

[dolphins8426]

Don't try that at home... Please cougar. Ill show you. ha

 

[dolphins8426]

Women.....:mrgreen:

 

[Bifferwine]

Cougar? I'm only 24!!

I have a friend who has a t-shirt that says "Cougar Bait" on the front.

 

[MikMcgyver]

a t-shirt that says "Cougar Bait" on the front.

I will take 2, wait I'm too old... n/m.....:grumble:

 

[RigoSharon]

i just saw this thread..sorry to b late...your set up looks nice..i like the way rocks are put together...very clean!!

 

[simpleman]

I like starting a new tank with some mushrooms,ricordeas and zoas. They add some nice color and they're tolerant of unstable water conditions that you get in a new system.

 

[dolphins8426]

cougar bait. now that's a shirt. thanks for all the great info. I am going to add 20 more lbs of rock this weekend. I also bought 2 ofthose snials that clean the sand right. narc snails. I put them in like 4 days ago they were crawling around the sand for a while and then I watched him dissapear in the sand. I haven't seen eaither of them in 4 or 5 days do you think they died after they burried themselves in the sand. arggg

 

[ReefKeeper]

prbably not, you willl only see them when you feed the tank. just keep an eye out for them you do the feeding and i bet they will pop up out of the sand.

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree, they're probably not dead. They will only come out to eat.

 

[dolphins8426]

they sure did come out like aliens out of the sand. pretty cool little critters. how many should I have for my 55gallon?

 

[Bifferwine]

Depends on if you have the big ones (like the size of a quarter) or the small ones (like the size of your pinkie nail). If you have the big ones, I would get about half a dozen, the small ones about two dozen.

 

[Rcpilot]

Adding 20 more pounds of rock ? :bounce: NOW your cookin' with gas!! Good choice!!

The nassarius snails will usually only come out when you feed the tank. They have an excellent sense of smell. My favorite snails. If you look closely, you can see their little "elephant trunk" sticking out of the sand. They rarely go completely submerged where that "trunk" isn't sticking up just a little. Mine come out at night occasionally. So cool to watch them burst from the sand bed as soon as they smell food. Actually pretty fast, for a snail. I had 2 in my 30g reef, but recently added one more. Mine are the size of a grape.

I picked up an SPS frag when my tank was only like 2 months old. It's now about 6 months old. SPS frag is doing very well. I have ZERO nitrates in my system though. I know nitrates are bad for SPS, but I don't know if they can tolerate a little bit. I think that if you honestly have ZERO nitrates and you know WHY you have ZERO and you can keep doing that--you could try a small SPS frag. I attribute my success to a DSB in the tank and the refugium, as well as a massive chunk of cheato in the refugium and 61lbs of rock in a 30g tank. Yeah, it's packed!

I've always wanted a school of fishies. If I had at least 75g, I might try a school of blue chromis. Like 5 of them, maybe? With your 55g tank, you might get away with 3 of them. Another really cool fish that I like it the red stripe goby. They are small--only grow to about 1" and they live in little schools, so you can keep several. To me--you could easily keep 3, 4 or even 5 of them in a 55g and they wouldn't really add squat to your bioload if you get your rocks up to around 100 pounds.

You could also think about a dwarf angel. A Flame angel or a Coral Beauty or maybe a Lemonpeel Angel. They are all "sorta" reef safe. You are taking a chance by adding one to a reef. Some of them will nip corals--some won't. They are so beautiful--worth the risk IMO. I've been hunting for one locally. No joy yet.

"Cougar Bait" LOL Where do ya get one of those? OH wait! Nevermind, I'm already married. :grumble:

 

[dolphins8426]

sweet. thanks for your info. I got 20 more lbs of cured live rock and a sand sifting goby yesterday. that lil bastard made a freakin castle to live in. it was actually pretty cool watching him make his home. I think I have about 80lbs in a 55gallon

 

[Bifferwine]

Cool, post pics of the new fish!

 

[reeffreak]

Congrats,show pics of the new aquascaping and new additions.

 

[yote]

Wheres the pics?

 

[dolphins8426]

I just got a picture of my goby, but my freakin batteries died in my digital. Argggggg. Picture kinda sucks. Ill take some new ones once I get beer and batteries. =0)