Good for you for planning this, and doing research! As you can see, it takes a lot more to set up a marine tank than a freshwater one… also more expensive.
The book you have is a good one.
The filter you have is about the same as I have ( I’m assuming it’s a hang on). I’m not sure if you need two heater for your size of tank. The power head should be enough to provide the water movement you need.
As for protein skimmer, there are many brands out, just make sure to get the one that is not driven by an air stone. The price varies depending on the brand and capability. Good rule is to get one that is designed for a tank that is a size or two bigger than yours.
Good choice on using live rock. Again, they come in different grades. There is one that is sold as base rock, these are lower-grade live rock that don’t have much other than coralline algae. These type of rock is what you would like to use as the base of your reef structure. I actually used mostly base rock (50 %) ( choose the ones that are branchy, not the flat ones) then added some premium (30%) ones to seed it.
If you are going to add soft corals and mushroom anemones, they usually come in rocks already, these can be placed directly on top of your base rocks. In time, they will spread to the surrounding base rock, covering the structure.
You can definitely add more premium rocks at a later (stages) date as they can be expensive.
Aquascaping the tank is the fun part! It will all depends on the size of your tank. If yours is the long, shallow kind, then you have more surface to work with. If it’s the tall kind, you may be limited.
Be sure to leave room behind the structure so you can access it for cleaning. I personally like the two reef mounds at both ends of the tank, leaving the center more open with just a few rocks here and there.
Provide lots of hiding places by creating lots of caves and over-hangs. Just make sure that the rocks are stable so they don’t topple over. By giving your fish lots of hiding place, they will feel more secure and will be out more after they acclimate.
The fish you have listed are good selections. The firefish and gobies are fun and interesting fish to watch. Fairy and flasher wrasses are also great additions, but some could be hard to keep, and they tend to be timid. The angels you listed are all good ones except for the bicolor, they don't have a very good record of survival. You may also consider the pygmy angels. Only possbile problems with angels is that they can be bullies ;D And you can only have one pretty much, so add the angel last if you do get one, once you added all the more timid species.
I will pass on the butterflyfish if you plan on adding corals and anemones later. They will just eat them! ;D Plus bfly fish can be problematic. I love them, and have kept them in the past when I only had fish.
Anyway, sounds like you are on the right track! Just need lots of patience.
Here is my tank at 2 years old
All of those soft corals and mushroom anemone are doing well. In fact the leather corals are all cuttings from one original colony! The tree coral was doing so well that it spawned! Unfortunately, it did it at night (like they do in the wild) and the thousands of egg depleted the oxygen in the tank, killing both fish
After 2 months on the spawning when it all settled, I saw and fell in love with a baby queen angelfish (2" long)! I made the mistake of ignoring all the literature I read about big angels and reefs,a nd got her anyway.
She did well for 2 years, never bothering any of the corals and anemones. However, it soon developed a taste for the leather corals and in 3 years, managed to decimate all of them including the tree coral! But it left everything else like the leather and anemones. I grew that little fish, it turned into a majestic fish!
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She was the only fish in the tank for 6 years, so I decided to give him a friend and added a pygmy angel and a mandarin fish.
After more than 8 years, I lost that queen angel two years ago when we had the heat wave
The pygmy angel and mandarin fish survived, I managed to get home just in time. They are still with me today
Now, I pretty much have small fishes, a wrasse, the pygmy angel, mandarin, small yellow tang, and a baby clown fish. There are 6 hermits, a cleaner shrimp, and a couple of urchins I got two years ago to help keep the algae off the rocks.
Here is a picture of the fishes . Sorry, the photo is not that good, but it gives you a good look at them.
You can see some of the leather corals and button corals.
Good luck, hope that helps. I can't wait to see what your tank looks like and hear all about your adventures.
;D
Oh, here is a profile of my tank, not update obviously ;D
www.ratemyfishtank.com/photo-main.php/15404Its currently ranked at # 23, cool huh? ;D
I have a 55 gal. reef tank that's been in operation for almost 10 years now.
), you can use PVC for support along with zip-ties, or you can use marine epoxy. What do you recommend? And I plan on only getting fully cured live rock, but it's so expenssive that I was wondering if this can be done in stages; buying the majority of what I'd need before any fish, but slowly adding more latter on. Also, what style of aquascape do you recommend for maximum shelter, but also plenty of swimming room?
![[][][]cordylus[][][] Avatar](http://files.sharenator.com/Troll_Face_U_MAD_RE_wrestling_1-s407x405-126802.jpg)
Hopefully it's just dust from the sand and not the sand itself. Otherwise, I have a problem on my hands!