My Saltwater Reef Tank, 55 Gallon

[caryans13]

Nice tank I am going to get a 55gal tank soon I got a 30 but I won't something biger so I can have more fish

[Timespartan111]

your the first gun owner ive seen on youtube whos also into fish

[DaytonaRoadster]

@Timespartan111 lol i'm also into cars too

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster same but not as much, i accidently disilked this comment by the way sorry i meant to hit reply, i dont know much about cars, im only 14, all i know is im getting a jeep when im 18

[DaytonaRoadster]

@Timespartan111 i wouldnt get a Jeep Wrangler, those things are unreliable piece of crap, my father had one that had this horrible suspension/harmonics problem, sometimes it would shake so bad it damn near crashed. Those things are always rated the least reliable cars...do yourself a favor, buy Japanese

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster really? Ive heard the exact opossite! I thought japanese were unreliable and jeep was, I love the look of the jeep though, what do you think about hummers? and what kind of japaesse cars.

[DaytonaRoadster]

@Timespartan111 oh god no, whoever told you Japanese cars arent reliable is a fucktarded idiot, they are THE most reliable cars, Toyotas and Hondas are still on the road 30 years after their production, Check consumer reports, GM and Jeeps are always the lowest rated, Honda and Toyota are at the top. H-1s are pretty sweet, the others are glorified luxury SUVs that cant handle a speed bump.

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster We have had like 5 toyotas and all were quite terrible, my sisters spun out of control and it wrecked her car so bad it looked half the size, we currently have a newer 2011 toyota prius and a 1997 chevy SUV, i honestly hate the toyotas and hondas, there not offroad at all, unless your talking about the trucks, are you?

[DaytonaRoadster]

@Timespartan111 oh dont get the American built models, those are bad, make sure you get the ones still made in Japan and shipped here. The Toyota Hilux is the toughest truck built, check out the top gear vid on youtube with it, they literally could not destroy it

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster I seen it already, its like the ak47 of cars.

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster i dont like its look tho

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster what do you drive

[DaytonaRoadster]

@Timespartan111 Honda Fit Sport and Nissan 350Z Roadster

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster roadster looks nice, fit sport looks pretty shitty tbh, how much $?

[DaytonaRoadster]

@Timespartan111 Fit is for ride to work, it ets 40mpg, and out handles a corvette on a slalom course. The Z is for srs business, Fit was $17,000 new, Z was $29,000 used

[Timespartan111]

@DaytonaRoadster Nice, what kind of buisness, btw thats what we use our prius for, that 1997 is indistructable, 300,000 miles on it and we got it new with 0 miles but we drove it 300,000 total, and the only think that ever broke was the fuel guage to tell you how much few is left in the tank.

[RazorFlame01]

DORI!!!!!!!

[BlueSoda79]

The fish are playing hide and seek.:)

[jam9357]

cool!



[ThePoooshka]

CLEAN THE ALGEA

[DaytonaRoadster]

@ThePoooshka vid is two years old idiot

[Xlenia]

DORI!!!

[Reeftanks2011]

Thats a huge hippo! how is she doing in a 55 gallon? great looking leather also!!!!1

[uncbball227]

how many gph are your koralias?

[DaytonaRoadster]

@uncbball227 cant remember, i use a vortech now

[samuelwaynefoleyjr]

i think its funny man how people complain about tangs in a 4 foot long 55 when a 75 and a 90 and sometimes you cand find a 120 thats 4 foot long too check my videos out man

[DaytonaRoadster]

@samuelwaynefoleyjr srsly, they grow so slow you can keep them in a little tank for a long time, hell my new tank will be here next week and its a 75 so shes getting an upgrade

[penguinfury007]

@DaytonaRoadster i kno this is late but might as well. ahah ive kept my vlamingi tang in my 55 gallon tank for about 3-4 months, granted ive had him since he was about 2" long

[DaytonaRoadster]

@spycrab95 she was fat and happy for 3 years till my tank crashed

[069Ap]

nice I like the setup!

[pro194757]

watch my vid..can tell me what lighting u use?

[DaytonaRoadster]

@pro194757 currently is use a Aqualite Elite 250watt MH system

[finger11yo]

i hate sand beds i rock a bare bottom tank

[boss5468]

What kind of water we're you using with your saltwater mix... RO water is the only type of water you should use. Tap water should always be avoided even if you use de-chloronator solutions.... Don't use distilled water, some places make it using copper piping. What kind of filtration did you use???

[DaytonaRoadster]

@boss5468 its Ro/DI water from a Bulk Reef Supply 4 Stage System. Filtration is Live rock and refugium, with a phosphate reactor

[boss5468]

@DaytonaRoadster very good!!!

[akcessdenied]

I have two ideas for what happened to mine... My 6 inch deep sand bed gave off that hydrogen sulfide gas stuff, or my wife got a puppy and it might of had that flea medicine that goes on the back of the neck. I heard that stuff will destroy your reef tank, pet the dog and then stick your hand in the tank a while later without out even knowing whats gunna happen. Watch out for your freinds dogs/cats also. I always wash my hands now before I put them in my tank.

[DaytonaRoadster]

@akcessdenied well no pets other than the fish, but ya i've heard about that before. I dont know why my sandbed would start doing that, but i suppose anything is possible

[josh3096]

@akcessdenied um your supose to do that any way with just water

[akcessdenied]

Have you figured out the reason why your tank crashed? My tank went wierd a while back. Some of the fish were swimming sideways and all the hermit crabs, snails, peppermint shrimp, and pistol shrimp died.

[DaytonaRoadster]

@akcessdenied no, i lost all my crabs and shrimp, some om fish, a few corals, other fish and snails and even my starfish are fine. i have no idea what happened

[AQUAReef365]

very nice



[DaytonaRoadster]

UPDATE: My tank suffered a massive crash this week, my poor Regal Tang and Flame Angel died, and the coral doesnt look good. I have no idea what caused it, but i am in the process of rebuilding it, or deciding to even try again...at this point i'm not sure, the tank has been going downhill since last summer, and honestly it looked the best in these vids. My 30 gallon tank on the other hand is doing great and i may post an update of that one

[DaytonaRoadster]

@reptilerob57 hes been in there for 3 years, honestly he looks bigger in the vid than he does in person

[Snickoys]

@michellybaby FAIL its dory.

[happieeyore]

@michellybaby its Dory...

[blairfritz]

How much live rock is that? Also i saw that you first had a freshwater tank. right now i am trying to change my 55 gallon freshwater tank to a saltwater reef. Any Tips???

[DaytonaRoadster]

@blairfritz i have about 60 pounds of live rock now, in this vid i had about 40

[alnoel22]

do you think that you can keep a hippo tang in a 50 gallon

[DaytonaRoadster]

@alnoel22

i've had one in my 55 for over 3 years :)

[joedad1000]

Nice setup bro! KUDOS!!!

[DaytonaRoadster]

thanks, check out my newer vids and see it as i added more rock

[mitch5655]

can you keep that blue tang with a kole yellow eye tang?

[DaytonaRoadster]

if you put them in at the SAME time, yes

If not they will fight, Tangs are very terratorial

[DaytonaRoadster]

in years he's never nipped at my corals

[DaytonaRoadster]

@Benno828282

Full size yes, But anyone whos had one can tell you they grow VERY slowly, i've had this one 2 years and she's just slightly bigger than when i got her.

Also i will be upgrading to a 125 whenever the economy picks up

[DaytonaRoadster]

not really, she's been in there for 2 years, and is fat and happy

[jeenagail]

hi what is the size of this tank? thanks

[DaytonaRoadster]

55 gallons and 20 gallon sump

[kmiller2332]

What lighting are you using? What brand, watt, and K?

Thank You

[DaytonaRoadster]

right now Coralife Aquarlight Elite MH 175 watts X2, with two 90 Watt PC Atennics

[femmefatale1990]

LOL I love that you have a regal fish and a clown fish. It reminds me of Finding Nemo.

[DaytonaRoadster]

thanks, the clownfish are easy to keep, but the regal tang...well, that took a lot of effort at first

[99chevylr]

that would look great in my living room, i have done alot of reserch, im going to start mine soon,... just one question! dose it affect ur electric bill alot?

[DaytonaRoadster]

nope, i have 500 watts of lighting, only went up about $3 dollars

[TheFishMan101]

How much was your skimmer?

[DaytonaRoadster]

about $140 dollars

[BJamesThompson]

this tank is amazing! great work =]

how long have you had the blue hippo tang?

[DaytonaRoadster]

thanks, i've had her about a year and a half

[aquarist720]

hello i am 16 years old and i had freshwater tanks for 10 years and i am starting a saltwater tank now. can u give me some advice?

[DaytonaRoadster]

sure, what do you want to know

[aquarist720]

how do i keep inverts healthy and living?

[DaytonaRoadster]

that depends on what kind, coral just require clean water and lots of light, same with nems, starfish and shrimps are more diffcult to acculmate, but once u get them in, they are easy, crabs are very easy

[aquarist720]

how do i feed inverts?

[DaytonaRoadster]

crabs/shrimp/starfish you dont, just feed your fish regular and they will scavange off them, or any leftover food. Coral and nems dont really need any food as long as you have light. You can use a turkey baster or pipett to squirt some zooplankton at them once in a while.

[aquarist720]

if i got an anemone will it sting my other fish?

[DaytonaRoadster]

it can, but fish avoid it. I've never seen a fish get stung by one that wasnt placed in it. Clowns and damsels will host in them. Remeber that nems are like coral and need very strong lighting

[monkeydude285]

ITS DORI AND NEMO!!!!!

[gigaboy74]

how much did it cost?

[DaytonaRoadster]

i probley spend about $2700, i could have dont the same project for less than half now that i know what to do. I didnt spend this all at once, it was over a years time. Lighting and the skimmer are the to most expensive and most important parts

[gigaboy74]

ok

im doing a fishonly aquarium

are anemones coral or reef or invertebraes?

[DaytonaRoadster]

technically they are inverterbraes, but they need very high lighting, like coral

[gigaboy74]

so i could put them in a fishonly aquarium

[DaytonaRoadster]

IF you have strong lighting (T-5 or Metal Halide) then yes, after you get estiablsed you could. They use sunlight to make food like corals, so you need powerful lights to keep them alive, most FO tanks dont use powerful lighting, so it up to you to spend the money for the lighting or not

[gigaboy74]

Cool Tank

im getting a 55 gallon soon

do you think i could raise 1 small yellow tang and 1 small regal tang in it?

[DaytonaRoadster]

as long as you keep up on the water changes, yes you could

[gigaboy74]

how much on water changes

i was planning to do about a 5-10% water change every week

[DaytonaRoadster]

that's fine, in fact once it established, you could do that once every two weeks and it'd be fine

[gigaboy74]

i was planning to get these fish

2 - percula clownfish

1- royal gramma

1- fire goby

1- cherub anglefish

1- small yellow tang

1- small regal tang

do you think these would go together?

[DaytonaRoadster]

yeah, those should work out great. I'd start with the two clownfish, then add all the smaller fish first, then add the dwarf angel, and finally the two tangs

[collinxxsk8]

nice tank u should check my 55 gallon reef

[laexposicion]

Your comments have been very very useful. The problem its that in Mexico the Sump it sells really really expensive (30 gal cristal sump for $600 dlls) that its why Im thinking on buying the FX5 as well a Coralife Skimmer 125gal. Thank you again for your time and attention.

[DaytonaRoadster]

oh dude, just make your own sump out of another aquarium, thats what i did, there are several DIY sump builds on youtube, its really easy

[laexposicion]

Amazing tank, congratulations great work! I need an advice , im about to buy an aquarium but I have many doubs about the filtration, I want to use instead of a SUMP a Canister (Fluval FX5) my tank will be about 350liters many people say this Canister wont work fine for a Reef Tank, but I can see than in your case it works amazing! Please help me, in your opinion do you think FX5 wolud me enought for this reef tank size? Thank you.

[DaytonaRoadster]

Honestly a canister filter really just polishes the water by using activated carbon. A sump is defenitly a good thing to have, and since your getting such a large tank, you should have plenty of room under it for sump. If your going to grow anything but soft corals, you really need one. It also keeps a lot of the instruments to keep your tank runnning (heater, Phos reactor skimmer) out of the tank. Honestly the most important investment in mechinal cleaning is a skimmer.

[DaytonaRoadster]

if your tank isnt drilled you can still get a hang on back overflow for the sump ( LifeReef makes a fantasic one and sells all the plumbing you need, you just have to buy a return pump) Sumps are extremely useful, generally most quailty skimmers only work in sumps. If you are adament about not getting one, you can do a soft coral or fish only tank without one, as long as you keep up on your water changes and have good cured live rock.

[vavoomskill]

Nice tank man! your an accomplished Reef Keeper : )

[DaytonaRoadster]

thanks, check out the updated vids if you like, i'll have a new one within the next week or so (finals coming up so i making it in between classes) with MH lights and a new vortech

[theaquareef]

does your flame angel ever pick at everything? i have one and am converting to a softy tank

[DaytonaRoadster]

not that i have seen no, my flame hides more than anything else, and swims between the rockwork a lot, he's very shy. But like i said, no i havent seen him nip at anything

[DaytonaRoadster]

Thanks to everyone viewing my Vid (now over 1,000 in less than a month) Plz give it a rating. I've got some updates since this one was taken. Also i have a new Vortech and MH lighting system that i will be showing in an updated vid very soon.

[CamelStudios]

pretty cool, wierd fish what kind are they?

[DaytonaRoadster]

Regal Tang, Flame Angel, Domino Damsel X2, Clarks Anemone Fish, Common Clown Fish, Brown Goby, yellow tail Damsel

[bloodyheero]

awesome tank, get a vortech powerhead, it'll replace all your koralias, nd it makes nice waves. btw u went ot the giorgian aquarium? how was it? im plannign to go real soon

[DaytonaRoadster]

acutally i plan on getting a vortech next month, so we think alike :)

Check out my new vid for an update on the tank

GA Aquarium is awesome. It doesnt have the bio-diversity the Chattanoga one has, but its still awesome

[ZZMann33]

Sweet tank dude! is that a Finger leather in the bottom left? I have one that out of control.

[DaytonaRoadster]

acutally it's a kenya tree, and it got so big i had to move it to my 30 gallon tank...which ironicly has an even bigger kenya tree in it, but had enough room for both. I'll be posting new vids of my 55 and 30 soon, i've just been waiting for my camera to get fixed.

[ipsfdotcom]

Very nice! The hippo looks happy. What do you feed him?

[DaytonaRoadster]

The hippo will eat just about anything. Nori, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, algea pellets, ect. She's quite the pig. She's loves Nori Seaweed the best, and its good for the immune system, so i put a piece in three times a week

[DaytonaRoadster]

oops, i think i deleted your comment about the Tang on accident, but thanks, i'll check it out.

[madcatz1417]

ITS GAY...like the owner!

;-p

[DaytonaRoadster]

lol, very funny kitteh...coming from someone in the navy, you would know gay when you see it

:-P

[Arcticafropuffs]

Nice!!! What protein skimmer do you have?

[DaytonaRoadster]

i think its in the description, if not its the coralife skimmer for 65 gallons, if forget which model

[berettagt88]

where you get everything?

[DaytonaRoadster]

The equipment i got from various stores, and online vendors. The livestock i got mostly from Blue Planet Aquaiums, Marine Fish, Salt Water City, and Pet Showcase.