New 55 gallon
 

Hey everyone!

I've been keeping freshwater fish for a couple of years. Now, next month I'm buying a new 55Gal. From my LFS and want to start getting into marine fish. I've never had a saltwater aqaurium before, so I'm hoping you guys an give me as much advice as possible! I've been reading as much on here and various other websites as possible, and want to take my time and do it slowly so that I do it right. I'm sure Ill make some mistakes along the way, but would like to cause as little stress on the living creatures as possible.

I'm still not %100 sure where I would start with a reef tank, that's why I've come to you guys for help before I start! Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Mitch

A few things you need to spend good money on
Tank
Lights
Filtration
Water<---Super important.
I started my tank with half live rock and half dry rock to keep costs down, as well as half live sand and half non live sand, there are certain place (or so I've been told) that you can cut corners

The best advise I can give you is to buy good quality porous liverock, not something heavy and dense. Porous liverock like Totoka or similar will give you a much better filtration as deep inside the rock there is anaerobic filtration going on that you won't see in dense liverock.

It's the base of any saltwater system and an important one.

Next advise is to buy a quarantine tank and quarantine all the fish for a month. When I get a new fish I give it an hour dip in Paraguard, then I put it in quarantine for 4 weeks and if there is no sign of anything bad I transfer it in the main tank, if there is something then I can treat the fish easily.

MOst people skip that step and endure sick fish with ich at the slightest sign of stress. It's very anoying.

Do I need liverock etc. in the quarantine tank?

You should have some but you dont need the "1lb per gallon" its more so for the fishes sake, to help keep stress levels down as it gives them somewhere to hide if need be, and it never hurts to have that extra filtration :)

I have liverock in my quarantine tank as cured liverock will prevent ammonia from building up and will keep water quality. I would only remove the liverock if I would have to treat with copper.

So far I have treated fish with Paraguard and with hyposalinity and never had to remove the liverock with these, as well as prazipro which is reef safe.

Again if it is porous liverock you don't need that much in a 20 gallons. I have about 7 lbs in my 20 gallons quarantine and it does the job.

+1 to the LR, I am afraid to try FW dips and Hypo/hyper salinity I think I'm still too new for that haha

Ok, I'll definitely do that! What would you guys suggest for stocking? I'd like to get some kind of an idea as to what I can put in there, just to do research on the fish before hand to know there needs etc.

Id suggest getting an Auto Top Off system to replace water evaporation and keep salinity stable. One of the things i wish i would have bought the day i set up my tank. Still the best purchase ive made in this hobby period, trying to pour water into my display tank with a 5 gallon bottle sucked...

reactors for gfo and carbon are must have imo