New 55 Gallon tank, compatibility and filtration questions

Hello everyone! I currently have a 20 gallon tank with about 10-15lbs of live rock, 2 clown fish and a small 3" blue spotted toby puffer. I have had this tank running for a year with no problems. My fish are very healthy and happy. I just recently bought a 55 gallon tank that I will be setting up once I move into my new house. I have a couple different questions...

First, I will be using a marineland emperor filter, a sea clone 100 protein skimmer and 2 power heads. Is there anything else I would need? I will be using live sand for this tank, I currently have substrate in my 20 gallon.

Second, other than my 2 clowns and puffer I plan on adding a blenny or gobie (or both), yellow tang and blue tang. Which other fish would you recommend that are compatible with these? I also plan on slowly turning it into a reef tank and I'm pretty positive all fish mentioned above are reef safe.

I would also love to add a Mandarin but I will first add copepods and see over the course of a couple months how well they reproduce in my tank. When I first started, a worker at a LFS told me it was ok to add a mandarin in my 20 gallon tank without copepods set up. I quickly realized after researching this was a mistake and he died after 5 months ;-( Is a 55 gallon tank even big enough for a mandarin?

 

Welcome aboard nelma.

I would stay away from the sea clones as they are a disaster. If you're looking for a cheaper skimmer, try looking at eshoops hang on the back. I like the reef octopus myself but a little pricey if bought new. There are many sites that folks are getting out of the hobby that are almost giving stuff away.

At far as stock, I think the blue tang is a little much for a 55. The yellow tangs dint swim as much, maybe look in to a kole tang as a second fish. The madarin will he fine if you set up a refugium or a sump set up, which a reef ready tank would be best in that kind of set up.
Filtration is big when you start adding tangs, they need food to stay fat, which makes them poop alot.

 

Have a look at this comparability chart. I wouldn't rely solely on this chart; its a good idea to have a few sources. Google: "Saltwater Fish Compatibility Chart"

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm


You have to be patient. If you add too many inhabitants at one time, the bacteria base won't be able to support all of the new fish resulting in an ammonia and nitrate spike. Typically, I will add one inhabitant at a time. Then monitor for the rise and fall of ammonia. Once the ammonia is gone, you can add another. For me, this translates into 1 new inhabitant per month.

 

Hi I have a 30 gallon (130ltr) Red Sea max and I have a mandarin I add copepods every two weeks I also have around 14kg (30lbs) of rock giving the copepods plenty of hiding places. And this all seems to help as my mandarin eats well and looks healthy I've had him for three months now. So having plenty of rock seems to help. Hope this is of some help. Kind regards. Allan