55 Gallon Build

Hello to all! I have recently converted a 55 gallon freshwater into a saltwater tank. I have had at least one freshwater tank going for ~15 years, however this is my first SW. I have installed a 30 gallon sump/refugium below the stand (which had to be modified to fit it!). I used ¾” PVC for plumbing, which includes a recirculation line back into the sump (which has come in handy a few times already), a ½” line for water changes, and most importantly a check valve so water does not overfill my sump on power loss. I made a polypropylene manifold for inside the tank that actually does not look too bad. I have ~2” of Aragonite sand & ~60 lbs of dry rock, both from Reefrocks.net. I am extremely pleased with both the sand and rocks and would recommend them to anyone! I also have ~40 lbs of live rock from liverockranch. I have a RO/DI system for water, as well as an auto top-off to my sump. Here is my equipment list:

3W LED lighting w/ 10 CREE 10,000k daylights and 10 CREE actinics
(2) Hydor Koralia 750, (1) 1050
Eshopps PF-1000 overflow box
Eshopps R-200 30 gallon sump/refugium
Eshopps PSK-100 skimmer (may not keep up once the bio-load increases; will be replaced if this happens)
BRS Single Reactor – for carbon
Jager 200W heater (also have an older Marineland 300W as a backup)
(2) sponge filters driven by a Fusion 400 air pump (will be used for hospital tank if/when needed)
Marineland NJ3000 return pump

I have installed a Reef Angel controller which I absolutely love so far. It is controlling my lights (actinic separate from daylights; refugium light opposite daylights), heater (uses a temperature probe to turn heater on/off), wavemaker for my powerheads, auto top-off using one float, overflow box high level alarm using another float (will shutoff return pump & skimmer and set off buzzer), monitors pH, overtemp alarm (will shut off heater, lights, and set off the buzzer), water change function (shuts off return pump, skimmer & heater), feeding function (shuts off return pump and powerheads), and will control a cooling fan for my sump based on temp.

I put about 1” sand in the refugium, along with some dry/live rock rubble (very little). I will be growing Chaeto in there, along with cultivating pods and mysis shrimp. I have a 14W 5,000k CFL on opposite from the daylights. I will also put a couple of Nerite snails in after there is enough algae.
Here is the proposed stock list (1 fish to be added about every 6 weeks):

CUC:
1 Turbo snail
10 Astraea snails
15 Trochus snails
10 Cerith snails
5 Nerite for refugium
2 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Other ornamental shrimp

Fish (to be added in this order):
Royal Gramma Basslet
Lawnmower Blenny
(2) Fairy Wrasse
Tiger Watchman Goby
(2) Ocellaris clowns
Flame Angel

I have a “permanent” quarantine tank setup where each fish will live for about 6 weeks before moving to the 55 gallon. It is a 46 gallon bow tank (again a freshwater tank converted to SW) that has about ~60 lbs of dry/live rock, 1” aragonite sand, 1W daylight & actinic led lighting, Coralife 65 HOB skimmer, 2 Hydor Koralia powerheads, large sponge filter, and heater. The only component that may need to be added is a carbon filter. This will never be used as a hospital tank; I have a separate 10 gallon tank that will be used if that need ever arises. After the 55 gallon tank is fully stocked, this tank will become permanently stocked itself (stock list undecided yet). I figure the only downside to using this as a quarantine tank is that catching the fish will be harder than a bare tank; however this will be much more like their permanent home and so I feel will be far better in the long run.

Both tanks have been running with saltwater for a month. Diatom and algae are in full bloom; pods, "bristle" worms (not the "bad" kind!), smaller white worms, tube worms are in both tanks, and also one snail hitchhiker was found so far.

Please feel free to critic my setup or especially my stock list. I feel like I have put a lot of time in research in both the system itself and the stock; however I am still a beginner and appreciate any and all help or advise. Next post is some pics, so enjoy and thanks for looking!

 

Here are some pics and details of the 55 gallon:

The backside of the tank while I was putting everything together. You can see how big the sump/refugium is in this photo:



I ordered the Eshopps sump, but they sent the refugium which is 2" wider. So I had to modify the back of the stand to get it to fit! It actually worked out ok, and glad they made the mistake!



Sump inlet with Eshopps skimmer (excuse my temporary skimmate collection bottle!), refugium with some live and dry rock & sand, heaters, and piping:



Return side with temp probe, ATO float & pH sensor 'tree'. Also shows the 8 controllable outlets for the Reef Angel (still needed 3 additional outlets!), ATO container, and 3-gang air valve:



Another of the return side showing the air pump (sponge filter is behind return pump), ATO pump and filter (I made a shelf for it):



LED lighting (with Homedepot brackets!) and eggcrate (I made openings for each side with zip-tie 'hinges'):



Whole tank as of a couple weeks ago:



Close up of one of the rocks from Reefrocks:



Closeup of the biggest of the live rock pieces:



Another of the dry rocks:



And finally a closeup of the sand from Reefrocks (plenty of shells!):



As mentioned, I also setup a simple 46 gallon tank (microbubbles are from the skimmer which still needs some mods to get rid of):



I also have a 10gal QT which is just about cycled and ready for my CUC.

Thanks for looking!

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Very impressive job, I see a ton of attention to detail.

Great looking start.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Awesome!

 

Good job. Congrats on the build. Now it' just time to sit back and wait for it to cycle!

 

Thanks, and yup! Its been one month so far, and will still be another 8 or so weeks before the first fish calls it home

 

Great work, I think your skimmer will handle your system just fine. Your fish load will determine how hard it works. I have a PSK-150 for my filtration my system which has a water volume of 112 gallons and 4 fish. I takes about a week for the cup to get 3/4 full or maybe a day or two long. I feed my fish heavily also.

 

Very good to know, thank you! I am dry skimming and it just started to produce about 2 oz of nice brown skimmate per day 8) Since the only load I have is the live rock and about 50 grams of frozen food every other day, I figure it is working just as it should.