I try to stick to the one pound per gallon rule, but you can have more or less depending on what you like. Some people like deep substrate, some don't. I have 120 Lbs. of African sand in my 120 gallon.
Sounds good to me. You won't lose much sand when vacuuming, but 60 Lbs. sounds perfect for a 55 gallon. It should be 3 bags if you buy the 20 Lbs. bags.
Usually the one inch per gallon will yield about 3" deep bed. I have multiple tanks with one pound per gallon and it fits my taste. It's really up to you.
Can't really use a gallon rule being that some tanks are taller and the footprint could be smaller..So you figure there is 4 square feet in a 55 gallon tank.. I heard a 50 lb bag of sand will cover 6 square feet at a total depth of 1 inch.. So a 50lb bag should give you about 1 1/8 depth in a 55 gallon tank given your measurements are 4 ft x 1 ft..
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