My new 55. 75lbs of shelf Tonga

Hello everyone id like your input on my rock set up. Also my support bar is broken and im ordering a new top frame. Can I get away with only draining half the tank to replace the frame? It really sucks I just got it set up to cycle and i thought i repaired the support but its starting to pull away from the back of the tank. Any ideas will be helpful i did find the site to get the top frame so im pleased I dont have to jerry rig it!!

 

Not big on the rock that you glued to your filter return and a few other spots. I understand trying to hide all the equipment but it seems better hidden with out the big floating white rocks screaming look mom no hands. but other than that it looks ok. I think you could aquascape it better, it looks really cluttered like you just dropped a box of rocks in there. The good thing about the shelf rock is you can make nice surface area for coral placement. But I don't really like tanks full of shelf rock. I prefer the shelf rock to be used with say pukani rock. Something a little more rouded and random shaped. then use the self rock to make shelves, caves, or base rock. thats just my opinion.

 

Thanks for your input infantry. Like I said im a newbie. When I ordered my rock I wasnt aware I was getting shelf only as it wasnt stated on the site. I didnt want to just stack the rock flat so I made a couple of big caves in the middle for the lionfish I get later. Im going to have another chance to make some changes when I get my new top frame in. Ill get ride of the ones on the filter return and the one on the skimmer pump. I do agree with the no hands comment kinda draws your eyes to it. Thanks again!!

 

No prob, its not bad for what you have. What kind of lion are you getting. I ask because you may want to make those caves bigger. Most Lions get pretty big and will need more room to swim and larger caves to swim threw.

 

Also, with all 3 of those powerheads plus the return on whats looks to be a fluval canister filter return you may have a little to much flow for a lion fishes likeing. I am not a lion fish expert but I have noticed my lion fish does not like alot of flow. It is less active and would avoid the power heads. So I took them out.

From the looks of things you got a 55G aqueon with 2 pc strip lights and the stand from petco. You have a fluval 305 or 405 and a HOB skimmer. What made you want to go with a Lion fish tank? What kind of lion are you going to put in there? A violitan will get to big for that tank. You would need to go with one of the smaller species. There are other fish you could have with a lion but you have the potential to do a nice reef tank. I would upgrade the lighting first but 55G is a decent size. Plus that stand has enough room to plumb a small sump and refugium. You have enough light now to start introducing fish, then eventually upgrade your lighting to T-5s and you could start doing soft corals

I always wanted a lionfish to, so I set up the tank and its running well. But Lions in my opinion get boring. They spend most of there time just chilling in one spot and only get active when they see a meal. It is fun feeding them goldfish and they are very pretty but boring. I have my reef tank right across the way from my lion tank and i spend most my time watching all the active fish and life forms in the reef. I will probably get rid of the lion and turn the tank into a frag tank after I build my new reef.

 

Hello, welcome. Well here you go! I hope this will be a pleasant experience for you. Here is my mini essay that I have written for those just starting out. I hope it guides you and if you have any questions I/we are here to help.
There are some who would tell you that once "the numbers" are all good the cycle is over and you are ready to go, I am not one of those. What many beginner (even some advanced) aquarium keepers are not (fully) aware of is that the full cycle takes at least 6-8 months. The reason being, mainly, is this is the time required to fully cultivate a total beneficial bacterial base and achieve a saturation of such. Also, allowing the tank to "season" and go through the inevitable mini-cycles and diatom blooms and get fully established is the key to a healthy and stable tank in the future. After you have added one or two fish, let the tank get established by light feeding and going through a moderate light cycle (6-8 hours) for the next 3 weeks. After that, add a few clean up critters (crabs and/or snails) and allow the tank to "catch up" to the added load (you may at this time add some live bacteria to help in this process) and give it another 2 weeks doing all your tests on a regular (weekly) basis and determine if the tank is stable.
Too many don't exercise the proper patience and discipline at this early stage of getting their tank going only to have problems and head aches down the road. Once the tank has gone through the initial phase of the cycle period and the tank is stable, (about 2 mos.) then and only then, should you do your first water change. I always employed a
bit of advice I got when I was starting out to add bacteria after each water change for the first and subsequent next 4-5 changes. After the first water change then and only then add to the tank and minimally at that. Another good tactic I learned is to add (whatever you are adding) a couple days after a water change. This gives the new creature fresh minerals and trace elements and a good 3-4 weeks (I adhere to 4-5 week
intervals between changes) to adjust to the new water parameters, light, temp etc. before disrupting the tank for the next water change.

 

Goldfish is bad! bad! bad! If you really care about the health of the lionfish and want to see him live normal and healthy i suggest weaning to Silversides, Frozen Krill, Ghost shrimp. just so u know its not easy and patience is needed during the weaning process GL

 

Thanks alot for the input Unclejed. I am in no rush to jump in and throw fish in. Infantry im impressed you know just about all my equipment lol. Fluval 305. 3 Hydor #1 . Seaclone 150 for the skimmer. As much as Id love a volatin I know my tanks isnt big enough so I was going to do a few of the dwarf versions.Im in the process of changing the shelf rock up a bit but sadly the only way to make any sorta wall ill have to break up some of these pieces.

Thanks again for the input ill post pics when i change the rock again.

 

Breaking up large pieces of rock is part of the experience. It would be really hard to aquascape with just shelf rock, it sucks that the website you bought it from didn't mention that it would all be that type. Oh well, you just need to work with what you have. Post another pic when you have it rearranged.

 

Thanks guitarman ya the site said Tonga not shelf or branck so I thought I was getting boulders but im happy with the rock its kinda different than what ive seen in photos. Its alot lighter in color and has green coralline and alot of little red things im not sure what those are any idea? Ok Im going to use a little bit of cpvc to assist me in stacking and make a branch or two can I use the yellow pvc glue. Its the glue thats used for our drinking water so it should be safe right?