au01st

OK, I'm picking up a 55gallon tomorrow. I want to do a 55gallon reef. How many and what size powerheads do I need to create the proper wave motion. How many pounds of sand/live rock do I need? Is it like rocks in a freshwater where 1lb per gallon is standard? The person I'm getting it from also has some spare 10gallons, so should I get one and make a sump, or is that not really needed?

This one will take a lot longer to set up than my freshwater for money reasons (college student), so can I use fluorescent with fish and live rock, then get MH when I want to add corals? (it comes with a fluorescent light, so that'd be good to keep for a bit if I can)

Can I start cycling with just sand, or do I need rock in there too?

Thanks in advance!

Cody

if you use uncutlured live rock you should so it can be come live, and pre cultured live rock would help you cycle

au01st

Cool. Well, update, it's not a 55, it's a 75! Helluva deal on it too. It's got fish that need homes, so for now, I'm gonna put it back up as freshwater, and the transition to salt will happen in a month or two after some research and some saving.

Cody

good deal, sounds like a plan, if i ever start a salter water tank it will just be a little nano cube or one of my 20 gallon, and im just giong to have inverts in it proubably, i dont have to money to start up and maintain

nemo addict

the flow depends on wot you plan to stock some like a high flow some like moderate ect ect , as for lighting if your only keeping softies then t5s will do the job you, dont need mhs to keep corals, just research before you buy,
and for a 55 gallon tank i would reccomened 30 - 35 kilos of rock ,
a sump is a good idea as you can put all your heaters filtering skimmers in there and hide them giving you a better looking display ,
how was you going to filter,
if cost is a problem then look on ebay or local private seller for reef bones which is live rock that is dead, and buy adding live rock thats alive it will transfer and make bones live rock after a few months ,
when you cycle i would do with the live rock if this is going to be your main source of filtering as you will have some die off from your rock when cycling and will aid in a faster cycle ,
also if added first then you can aquascape better hope this helps

and just use google and read and read and read and be prepared for some work,,