[Sikkob]

I am setting up a 56 high and was wondering what bed is better crushed coral or sand? I have about 5-10 lbs of dead rock from a previous 29 gal tank. I asked a petstore salesperson how much filtration I need and she said that 1 hang on the back filter would be good (course I am going to get a protein skimmer as well). I was thinking a Rena canister filter (75 Gal) and a Rena hang on back filter with protein skimmer. Let me know your thoughts.

[glampka]

Forget the crushed coral & go with sand. The CC has large particle size which means that dirt will easily find its' way into it. With sand, the dirt will stay at the surface & can easily be removed. Canister filters are nitrate factories if you don't clean them regularly. IMO stay away from them. What are your plans for the tank? If it's going to be FO, then the canister would be ok.

[Krazy]

I'll second what glampka has already said...

[Sikkob]

It will probably be fish only but may want to add LR later on. I did read some of the beginner articles for some info and went to lifereef.com after seeing it mentioned a couple times to see what a sump filter is. After seeing the prices I will have to wait quite a while before getting this type of filter. Here is a link to the type of hang on back filter Rena 55 I was looking at. Like I said the petsmart employee said that I should use a filter that is rated for a 55 gallon tank and that extra filtration will cause more evaportation and not nesessarily be better. Since Petsmart is a retail store I am really skeptical to trust that answer since they generally dont have alot of experiance.

I would also like to thank both of you for your thoughts. I like the pictures of your nano tanks glampka. When I first visited RB's site my wife and I both were very impressed with your reef tank KrazyK.

[glampka]

For what it's worth - take the advice given @ Petsmart with a grain of salt. Most of the time their employess don't know what they're talking about. Find yourself a good lfs that handles just fish if possible. The odds of getting responsible advice goes increases somewhat. Thanks for comments on the cube. It's still new & I'll be posting more as I stock it.

[Danakor]

As far as the petsmart thing goes, I went to a local one when first setting up my tank and I was actually told to get a filter 2x the size that i needed(they were trying to get me to buy a 60 gal filter for a 29 gal tank). I believe that petsmart employees are on some sort of commission type pay as I have never had any other store try to sell you extra equipment that you don't really need (come on a heather for 50 gallons for a 29 gallon tank in Southern Georgia???). That being said the only reason to over filter is to create more flow in your tank.

[erickc]

I live 2 miles from petsmart and 45 miles from an aquarium store and I still don't go in petsmart, I think they should call it petstupid. Find a good fish shop and go there I'm sure you'll have better luck and more fun.

[Sikkob]

I definitly am going to go to a lfs even though it is a drive (around 40 miles or so) and take my buisness to a knowledgeable store so they can compete with petstupid haha. I will be posting some pics in approx 3 months or so (that is when I might have water and filters in). So far what my setup will be...
1 56 Gal high
1 Protein skimmer (either seaclone 150 or berlin...non-sump style if there is one )
1 canister filter only because of the limited 14 in storage area
50 lbs of live rock
5-10 lbs of dead rock
50 lbs of live sand
and fishes

Thank you again to all that posted...I will keep you posted with pics in the upcomming months.