# My new-ish 56 Gallon aquarium



## s13 (Aug 17, 2007)

Well, this system has been running for about 4 months now, the coraline algae is really taking off on the base rock. Here is a pic of it the night I bought it.










Here it is after Staining, painting and installing new hardware.










Here is the tank after adding some live rock before I started aquascaping.










Lighting on the tank includes:
Icecap 250mh ballast
250w 20k metal halide
2x55w power compacts (for the time being going to add two 32w)

After a couple months of being lazy and not messing with the tank I finally got it fixed up. 










That picture was taken not long after I added the corals into the tank so they weren't fully opened up. I've also added more since. I'll have to get some better pictures one day.

Currently the only two fish in the tank are a Devil Lion fish and an Argus Grouper. Here are some pics.



















This Argus grouper is wicked. He can change colors like its nothing. I tried to snap a clear picture of him in a color morph he does but I was unable to get a clear shot but here is a blurry one that will give you an idea.


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## Guest (Sep 26, 2008)

Sweet! That lionfish is too cute. It looks great


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## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

tank looks great. The only thing i would suggest is that you replace that grouper with something thats a better fit for the tank. Argus Groupers can get to be more than a foot and a half. Groupers are also pretty messy so youre going to have to do a few more W/C's a month. Also if you plan on having inverts, any grouper is not the best choice.... just my humble advice.

Otherwise your setup looks pretty sweet. I know I would love to see mroe pics.


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## s13 (Aug 17, 2007)

Well, the tank is doing great. It's funny, the tank went 8 months without a waterchange. I just recently started doing water changes because my nitrates got up to 5, yes 5, and I didn't want any of my SPS getting stressed. Too much $$$ in coral in there. By the way, I am not running any type of filtration on the tank at all. No sponges, DLS, socks, skimmer, carbon, phosgard, nothing! I ended up getting rid of the grouper because he ate too much. He could eat 10 silversides easy in one sitting. The lion fish is soon to go too, he is doing fine in the tank, I just have a flatworm problem and I can't put mandarins or wrasses in the tank to take care of the flat worms with the lion in. Here is a recent picture.










Let me know what you guys think!


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## MaelStrom (Jun 24, 2007)

Tank looks gorgeous! What is the green stuff on the rock to the left ( and a little on the right side too)?. And the red on the bottom left? Nice clam too.


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## s13 (Aug 17, 2007)

Thanks Maelstrom!

The green stuff is Turf Algae. I don't recommend it because it takes over (as you can see) and the red stuff on the left is "Red Anger Bush" macro algae.


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

gorgeous!


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## s13 (Aug 17, 2007)

I appreciate the compliments, its a shame I'm not satisfied with the tank. As soon as I get this lion fish taken out, I'm going to get a mandarin, a wrass, goby, and probably a pair of onyx clowns


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I love the clam... what species? Crocea


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## sneasle (Jun 25, 2008)

So.. if I wanted to build a 55g tank modeled after yours.. what all would I need hardware wise?

I've got a tank with a sump, but that's about it.


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## s13 (Aug 17, 2007)

mag 7 pump, 250w metal halide, workhorse 7 w/ 55w power compacts. If you're interested, I will actually be selling my lights and moving to T5 lighting.


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