Hello from Newbie to saltwater aquaria. Pictures

[Gigaah]

Well Its been an aspiration of mine for quite some time to do a saltwater aquarium. I've had a few freshwater tanks thru the years. But the saltwater hobby has really kept me on my toes and forced me to sift over mountains of information.

I have a 55g aquarium. Probably 30 pounds of live rock in it with a sand bed. I just finished cycling thru the ammonia /nitrite stages. I have a small 1.5" false clown named Captian spalding(he killed the firefish I put in there..RIP Spike). I also have a sixdot sleeper goby. I have like 8 hermit crabs. A smattering of those hitchhiker stars and snails. One rock roughly the size of two softballs has probably 50 small featherdusters(no idea how big these guys get). I do have a couple bristle/fireworms I found a few days ago. not large tho so I'll let them be atm.

I know...I'm a little shoestring budget right now. so here is my set up.
55g old oceanic tank
Marineland 400gph HOB filter(for upto 90gallon)
1 50g power head
1 25w 50/50 actinic light

NO sump/refugium
NO skimmer

Currently I'm working on turning that HOB filter into an overflow box for a refugium.
I was envisioning cutting a hole in the HOB to feed the sump.

The HOB filter and the one power head I have now I am quite happy with the circulation in my tank.

I want a skimmer but we will see if I have money left over after the sump/refuge is done. I know I know..need a skimmer. Sorry...doing the best I can. I know I have to get all this straight and get nitrates down to ZERO before any aspirations of coral and reef keeping come out to play.

To be perfectly honest my Nitrates are at 30 right now. I'll be doing some water changes shortly to bring this down. The nitrates have risen slowly..but steadily from an initial 10(need better water source) up to 30 after the cycle completed.

I know I have several no no's and issues going here but I'm working on them. I feel like a bad guy for not waiting till I could do this all in one swoop..but to be honest if I had all the money I've put into it so far at once..I'd never have put it into an aquarium..hahah.

well any helpfull hints or hellos...or NO NO BAD AQUARIST comments..hehe feel free!
Pictures attached

 

[Bifferwine]

The setup you have now is just fine for the bioload that you have. If you want to add more fish in the future, you should make getting more rock a priority. You really should have 1 to 2 lbs per gallon (so 50 to 100 lbs total). The rock will really help with your water quality.

Since you already have some live rock, you can buy the rest dry to save money. The dry rock will be seeded by the live rock eventually, and will become live itself.

You can focus on having a sump later. People have perfectly nice tanks without a sump. It definitely helps and makes things easier, but it's not a requirement. You can get a really good hang-on-back protein skimmer that will help too.

Nitrates at 30 is a bit high, especially for any inverts you have in the tank. Keep up with your water changes, and that will help to lower them. If you are using tap water, you should stop. Tap water is one of the worst things you can put in your tank. Use only RODI water. You can get it from the grocery store, Walmart or the fish store. You can also buy your own RODI unit for around $100.

Lastly are your lights. You will need to upgrade before you can keep any photosynthetic animals like clams, anemones or corals. Right now you have 1/2 watt per gallon. You need a minimum of 4 watts per gallon to keep softies and low-light corals. For a 55 gallon tank, a set of T5s will be perfect. You can often find lights used on Craigs List or from other local reefers, so keep your eyes peeled. You can find great deals on all sorts of equipment if you buy used.

Other than that, your tank looks good. You are on your way to a nice setup. It will take time, but everything good does.

 

[Gigaah]

I have an RODI unit on order. That was first on my list of things. Soon as that shows up(should be soon and in the nick of time) I'll get water changes underway to bring my nitrates down..which I know are on the middle higher end even for fish.

I'm happy to see that the set up I have got the "OK" stamp for what I have in there.
I buy a bit of live rock every week usually(just spent 35$ this week on it). Its 5.25/lb at my LFS and any live rock anywhere in the store tanks is for sale as liverock unless is has a larger featherduster or coral/mushroom etc on it so I can get some nice pieces.

I recently bought a liquid test kit. I'm happier with these over the strips for readability EXCEPT for the api PH range test. its hard to read IMO. My strips said PH of around 8.1-8.3ish best of my reading. the liquid..is hard to read but I think it is telling me roughly 8.2-8.4 again I wish there was a more positive reading..the other tests were easy to read. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 30...which is what my strips have been saying.

I think the lights are on the tail end of my list of things to get before I get corals and such(aside from maturing time for the tank in general). More rock, sump/refugium, protein skimmer.