JBowden's 55 Gallon

[JBowden]

My husband and I decided not to buy ourselves Christmas Presents this year, however, we decided to buy the house something nice.

I had always had a FW tank in my bedroom at my Mom and Dads, and took it with me when I moved out. I had African Cichlids...they ended up dying of old age (I had them for about 8 years)...I was quite sad. So we put the tank in the basement for a while, and then decided that a SW would be awesome in the livingroom. When we add on to our house in the next 5 years or so, we'd like to put a 200 gallon in our new addition and plumb it all into the basement, blah blah blah.

We started this in October around my birthday.

So here's our baby...since we don't have any real "babies" yet...

Pretty bland then...we were trying to be frugal with everything, so we bought pieces of LR everytime we went to the LFS...and bought snails on sale and stuff.

We have some damsels, which I am giving to a friend soon, that's all she has space for is 2 fish.

And here it is as of last night when we got a BUNCH of stuff off of a guy who was parting out his tank. Granted, we drove for 2 hours to get there, but the money we saved was amazing.

I have some T5 lighting that should be here tomorrow and we're making a screen to put on top (we have a cat) and we have some powerheads that just came in this morning.

Thinking about adding some clowns or something. Not sure. I want some fish that will add color.

 

[dcantucson]

You've come a long way. It's looking good. :claphands

 

[reeffreak]

Looks great!Clowns would make a great addition.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

You're taking is shaping up nicely. We all started the same way so be patient and get what makes you happy. Clowns are great fish to add some color and they're open water swimmers so you'll see them all the time.

 

[Rufio808]

You're taking is shaping up nicely. We all started the same way so be patient and get what makes you happy. Clowns are great fish to add some color and they're open water swimmers so you'll see them all the time.

+1 They are awesome. I wish I got a pair. Mine comes to the surface anytime you walk by. He always wants food and you can even touch his little head. I don't though. :mrgreen:

 

[Smitty]

Your tank looks great...you two have been doing a good job! :)

 

[PRC]

Tank looks great. Nice work on the aquascaping. The fish are gonna love the hiding places.



Keep up the good work.

 

[JBowden]

Thanks, everyone! I can't wait for the corals and stuff to take off and grow. I love gardening, so it's going to be a very rewarding hobby, I'm sure :D

As for the aquascaping...I did all that myself...my husband is kind of boring when it comes to that kind of thing. I just make him carry everything, LOL! I had fun with it...it makes me want to be a fish and live in there. All kinds of little caves and holes and hiding spaces.

I'm leaning towards a couple clowns and a Barnacle Blenny. Anyone have any Barnacle Blennys and would it be a good idea?

 

[Rufio808]

Any type of blenny should be good. I like the bicolor blenny. I don't have a blenny but theyre usually great fish.

 

[BL1]

Do you have a type of clown picked out yet? If it were me, I'd go with the ocellaris, They seem to be the most peaceful variant of clown to me. They were the first fish in my tank and I've never seen any aggression towards any fish that I added after them. From what I've read about the barnacle blennies, they seem like a cool fish but, one you'll rarely see swimming except at feeding time.

The Barnacle Blenny is a very entertaining fish, as they race as fast and furious as they can to snatch food from the water column while trying not to be eaten by the other fish. The body of this fish is seldom seen as they will take up residence in a small crevice in the rocks.

 

[Rufio808]

+1 on getting fish you'll actually see.

 

[PRC]

Do you have a type of clown picked out yet? If it were me, I'd go with the ocellaris, They seem to be the most peaceful variant of clown to me. They were the first fish in my tank and I've never seen any aggression towards any fish that I added after them. From what I've read about the barnacle blennies, they seem like a cool fish but, one you'll rarely see swimming except at feeding time.

+1 on the Ocellaris clowns..I got a couple of Clarkiis when I first started in the hobby. I didn't know at that point there were so many different variations of clowns. Clarkiis are a little boring compared to the other varieties.


+1 on getting Swimming fish rather than hiding fish when you're first setting up the tank..It's a little anti-climactic to throw a fish in only to see him disappear only to be seen every once in awhile.

 

[JBowden]

Needless to say, I'm addicted.

I'm always in awe when I go to the LFS and see their display tanks. And I'm envious. I love my 55, but it's like tattoos...you get one and then you have to get another. Or piercings, but we're not going there.

So my husband said we could do a 125 gallon or bigger for our living room...and get rid of the 55 gallon tank (not anything that's in it, of course).

I would probably do a 55 gallon sump with a fuge. My Dad is building us a custom stand that will be 30" to 34" tall, 30" wide, and 6ft long (with some play room, of course)...it will be made out of oak and stained black. It will have manmade beams in it throughout, to hold all the weight. There will also be a cabinet above the tank that will house the T5's and everything else...and inside the cabinets will be shelving for whatever I want.

My husband already crawled under our house and put cinder bricks under all the floor joyces (is that how it's spelled?) to hold all the weight. (I love old farm houses, by the way, nothing is level and everything bows)

The tank we're looking at getting will be all glass, 2'x2'x6'...obviously that's a 125...and the leftover space will be incase we decide to go bigger...which I hope we do *crosses fingers*. But the 125 gallon, we can get for $319 and that's 1/2" glass.

I'm already selling all my scrapbooking stuff, wedding dress, etc. LOL!

If anyone needs a Cricut Expressions 12" cut, let me know!

_____

I know bringing in the new stand and tank will be an ALL Day process...but how do I go about moving my fish and everything into the bigger tank?

I planned on breaking everything down, putting the LR into tubs, covering them with wet towels, and then syphoning the water into a big 55 gallon plastic drum that had water in it before... and then scooping all the substrate out and putting it in and adding more. And putting all my fish in their own separate bucket, same with the coral frags.

I shouldn't need to let my tank cycle if I use the same water, and just add more to it, should I?

_____

Also, what pump would be best for my sump? How many GPH should it be? (The tank will be drilled for syphon and return lines)

And what skimmer would be best?

 

[BL1]

I would mix up a bunch of water before you start the move, the tubs you put your LR in should have water in it, if you only use paper towels you risk die-off on your rocks and having to go through another cycle in your new tank. When you scoop out the substrate, if you plan on reusing it rinse it out well before putting it in the new tank. As long as you minimize the amount of time your LR is out of water the smaller chance of having to cycle it.
For the return pump, you need to find out the GPH of the overflow on you tank and get a pump rated a couple 100 gph higher then that.
For your skimmer look at the reef octopus or ETSS reef devil. Both have good models rated for your tank size.