The 55-gallon top fin origin tank was the tank that started it all. This was my first foray into the reef-keeping hobby. I experienced many highs and lows with this tank, but overall keeping and maintaining the tank would become a habit and passion that continues today. I started my reef-keeping journey by doing a lot of things that are probably considered blasphemy in today’s reef-keeping standards. But, over time my skills and experience improved and I’m currently at a stage where I know what it takes to keep a consistently healthy and thriving reef tank.
During my childhood and throughout my younger days, I’ve always had an affinity for pets of all kinds. I’ve had birds, rodents, dogs, cats, fish, and even insects. My father was always fond of aquariums and had multiple freshwater aquariums in my childhood. He especially loved Angelfish, Bolo Sharks, and Plecos. He never really had success with his tanks as they came and went throughout the years. As a kid, I had my own goldfish 10-gallon tanks here and there. After high school, I would join the military and serve 4 years. After the military, I married my wife, bought our first home, and eventually reached a level of stability in location and financially as we both had full-time work. My wife shared a similar love of animals and pets. We would often visit all of the local pet stores when we’re vacationing out of town.
I had always liked looking at aquariums and had plans to eventually have a tank in the house. I just assumed that keeping a freshwater tank would be the only way to go as a saltwater tank seemed to be cost-prohibitive and difficult to keep from what I’ve heard from others. After we got our first house my plans on building up an aquarium started to come to life and I began researching what it would take to set up a freshwater aquarium.
One day I was visiting one of my local fish shops and I ended up spending a couple of hours talking to the shop owner. The shop was very old school, with two rows of tanks running along the sides of the walls supported by cinder blocks. One side was dedicated to freshwater and the other side was dedicated to saltwater. There were some very nice saltwater fish in stock and I was struck by their vibrant colors compared to the freshwater side. I also liked all of the invertebrates and how they interacted with the saltwater environment.
The owner of the shop was a very eccentric older gentleman who seemed to know his stuff and had been in the hobby for a long time. I was a newbie and ready to absorb anything. I’m sure he could see my excitement over the saltwater fish section and then pounced. I told him that I was looking to set up a tank and liked the saltwater animals, but thought it was too costly and difficult to keep. He said they are not difficult to keep at all and then said here check this out. He grabbed a handful of salt and dumped it into the tank saying you do that every once in a while. He did confirm that equipment is generally more expensive upfront, but it depends on what you want to keep. We then spent the next couple of hours planning out the tank. I know now that there was quite a bit of shoddy advice given to me, but overall there were some good nuggets and the man had kept a successful shop open for several years. The shop, however, is no longer around. My wife was fully on board with setting up a tank and I went to town building my first tank. This was in my younger days when I was working and in college so I was on a tight budget and did not use the best equipment.
Tank and Stand
My first task was to secure a tank and stand. I went directly to Walmart and bought a cheap 55-gallon kit and stand. The tank was not drilled and was a standard tempered glass tank. The tank being tempered couldn’t be drilled and I didn’t know much about sumps anyways. The stand was your typical black particleboard stand. The kit came with a glass top and two fluorescent freshwater lights that sit directly on the glass.
Another funny thing with this tank was the background. I bought a picture background that had rock and soft corals as a picture. It was very dull looking and had a greenish dirty hue to it. Not sure why that was chosen, but it was taped to the back of the tank lol.
Live Rock, Substrate, and Refugium
For the sand, I purchased a few bags of Carib Sea Aragonite live sand from Petsmart. I went with live rock from Saltwaterfish.com. I cured and cycled both in the tank.
Live Stock and Corals
I kept different fish in this tank and had a death rate far higher than my next tanks. I had the usual beginner fish in the tank at different times including Firefish, Yellow Tang, Clownfish, various Gobies, Dwarf Angelfish, and Cardinals. I also had various clean-up crew members including hermits and snails. I was not very successful with coral in this tank. I tried a few small pieces of random coral and most would perish within a few months and I didn’t try to keep much as I was initially more interested in fish and inverts. Green Star Polyps and Green Bubble Tip Anemones did do well in the tank. An initial Anemone put into the tank would eventually become 4.
Reef Tank Gear
Lighting- Being on an extreme budget, I went with a cheap imported light fixture. I purchased a double T5 fixture and ran a white bulb and a blue bulb in the fixture. I purchased this light very cheaply from an online company called AquaTraders. This company is no longer around. The light did ok, I had it for several years lighting up the tank and simply replaced the cheap bulbs with better bulbs. I do think this fixture was somewhat dangerous. Anytime I brushed up against the light with my hand in the tank and the light on it would shock me pretty good. It also was a bit hot to the touch most of the time. There was probably a fire hazard using this light and my experience with this light now leads me to buy only UL-certified products that don’t pose a safety and fire risk. The light did a good enough job growing beginner corals like Green Star Polps and even Bubble Tip Anemones.
Heater- I bought a cheap heater from Walmart and worked without fail for the duration of the 55 gallons life.
Chemical Filtration- Yes folks, this tank was set up with a canister filter initially. I don’t remember the model, but I felt I splurged on this filter. It had three media baskets and pulled water from the tank through the baskets and back into the tank. I used a special bio-media the company made, carbon, and filter pads made for the filter. In general, the filter was very efficient but would get nasty very quickly if not cleaned regularly.
Skimmer- Initially I did not run a skimmer on the tank and didn’t run one for about a year. Eventually, after a few losses and research, I started to understand the functions of skimmers and their value in a system. I saved up for a bit and bought my first skimmer, a CPR Bak-Pak 2 protein skimmer. The skimmer worked somewhat when it was functioning and dialed in. It has a collection cup that can be moved up and down via a rubber band. It was very hard to dial in and even harder to clean. I find sump skimmers to be far superior to the hang on the back skimmers I’ve encountered.
Power Heads- I used two Hydor Koralia pumps to move water inside the tank. These accomplished the job, but I did find these original pumps would randomly quit working after about a year or so of use.
55-gallon evolution
After having the tank up and running for a couple of years there were quite a bit of issues with the tank and overall I was not happy with it. There were problems with algae and a break out of Aiptasia in the tank. I also had recently suffered some fish losses. Through keeping the tank and expanding my reef-keeping knowledge, I knew that the tank was not set up for success. I was at a turning point where I was considering breaking down the tank altogether and getting out of the hobby or continuing and trying to improve. After much consideration, I didn’t want to break the tank down and start over and wasn’t in the position to buy a new system so I decided to try and improve the current setup
I put together a plan to improve the system the best I could. The main strategy that I would focus on would be to add a sump and an improved protein skimmer.
Adding the sump
After a bit of research, I landed on a sump with a filter sock, skimmer section, and return section. Refugiums weren’t very much in style yet and it seemed a bit complicated to me at the time. I also didn’t think a sump with the extra fuge section would fit in the stand. I went with Eshopps RS-75 third-generation sump which at the time had the best size and value for my needs.
There was very little room in the stand to add much equipment in the cabinet. The stand had shelves on the bottom of the cabinet that elevated the bottom of the cabinet leaving little room for a sump between the shelf and the bottom of the tank. There was also a middle support board that cut the cabinet in half. To get the sump to fit into the stand I took a jigsaw and cut out a section on one of the sides and sat the Eshopps sump directly on the floor in the cabinet. Amazingly it fit well in the stand.
The tank was tempered glass making it not possible to drill so I had no choice but to use a hang on the back siphon-driven overflow box to drain water from the tank to the sump. This is something that I would never consider now. This was a very loud way of draining water and also posed a huge overflow risk and had the potential to just stop draining. With that said it did accomplish that job and I never did experience and overflow. I used a Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5 pump to push water from the sump back into the tank.
How to Add a Drain and Sump to a Tank with Tempered Glass
I went with an in-sump skimmer from Eshopps Model S 120 snow cone skimmer. This has been a great skimmer and I still use it today on my 20-gallon frag tank. It is driven by a Sicce pump and I plan on using this until it implodes.
I added carbon to the sump using a simple mesh bag placed where water would flow through it in the sump. I also banished the canister filter and the old CPR BakPak2 skimmer.
55 Gallon Renaissance
Following the upgrades, the 55-gallon tank went through a bit of a renaissance. I was able to conquer the algae and Aiptasia issue. My skills had improved and I was much more consistent with the maintenance and testing of parameters. The rocks in the tank purpled up with coralline algae and the tank went through a good stretch without losing any fish. The existing coral in the tank looked much better too. I was happy with the status of the tank, but not so happy with the system overall. I still saw it as patched together a system that could be improved substantially.
Complete Guide to Getting Rid of Aiptasia in Your Reef Tank
Critical Failure and Breakdown
The tank continued to run and was rather stable for about a year. One day I did full maintenance of the tank and after I finished, one of my Clownfish and the Yellow Tang began to struggle and both did not look well. Within an hour both were dead. In another hour two more of the fish perished leaving only a Clownfish and Firefish remaining. Long story short it took me a while to figure it out, but I must have damaged one of the powerheads while cleaning it and it was leaking electricity into the tank. I found this out when it shocked me of course. I was distraught by what had happened and found myself at a crossroads again. I was pretty educated at this point and knew what a successful system would take. I still liked the hobby and chose to continue, but this time start from scratch and try to do everything as close to correct as possible.
I chose to build a new tank from scratch and that led me to my next tank, a 75-gallon Marineland reef tank. This would be the tank that elevated my skills as a reef keeper and would pull me deeper into the hobby and sharpen my skills in keeping coral and marine animals. I kept the 55-gallon tank up while I built out the 75-gallon system and even used some of the old equipment. I used some of the live rock from the system to seed the 75-gallon. After the 75-gallon was up and running I did a full breakdown of the 55-gallon. I was able to sell the system as a freshwater system on Craigslist for $100. Included was the tank, stand (complete with the bottom cut out), original lights, glass top, heater, and canister filter. I also was able to sell some of the other equipment I wasn’t going to use anymore including the original BakPak2 skimmer and CPR overflow box.
Overall there was a lot of trial and tribulation that went on for several years with the 55-gallon origin tank. My mind was in a knowledge-based mode where I had to go through a series of trials and errors. Eventually, I would figure things out and build my skill to where it is currently possible for me to keep a thriving and healthy reef tank. I learned some of the most important lessons for success in the hobby including patience, consistency, and stability that carry on in my reef keeping today.
