New to the forum, new to the reefs...

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Nickeleye

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Apr 13, 2004
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Hello everybody! I'm going to be making my first attempt at a saltwater tank setup soon, not to mention my first attempt at tank in general. Now I know most of you are probably thinking I'm nuts and already feeling sympathy for the poor animals that will be the first into the tank... Well, don't worry. I will have the ability to consult my friend (also a member of these forums... as40) who lives only 15 minutes away. Some of you may have already helped him or may have been helped by him. Secondly, I have the forums to consult. Thirdly, I'm a patient person and want to do this right.

Moving on, I will be buying my friend's 40 gallon acryllic tank. I know this is not completely ideal for a saltwater setup, but it should be adequate. I plan to make a reef type aquarium.

I was planning to include the following items with the tank:
AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer w/ Maxi-Jet 1200
AquaC Remora Filter Box for Maxi-Jet 1200
One Pro-Heat II Titanium IC Heater - 150w
One 36" Coralife Aqualight Single Linear Strip (96W Total)
~80 lbs of argonite sand
40-80 lbs of live rock
Between 5-8 fish (yet to be determined)
Cleaner shrimp, snails, etc.

I'm ready for some feedback. Please be gentle.
 
Thirdly, I'm a patient person and want to do this right.....I'm ready for some feedback. Please be gentle.
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Read.
Read everything you can get your hands on- books, forums, websites. The more time you put into researching this demanding hobby (before you even add water) the better your chances of success.
 
I would plan on much fewer fish than 5-8. 3, maybe 4, depending on what you get will be a much better goal, and much more sustainable in a reef. Small fish only--avoid predators and tangs, as the 40 will be too small. I would probably go for a single dwarf angel, a pair of basslets, and a smaller goby. The angel will be a slight risk in a reef, but they have great personalities and color.

Also, look at the corals you want before setting up the tank, and make sure that will be enough light. Most 40's are long and tend to be shallow, so the power compacts should be adequate, but you'll need to make sure before purchasing a photosynthetic critter.
 
Originally posted by Cearbhaill

Read.
Read everything you can get your hands on- books, forums, websites. The more time you put into researching this demanding hobby (before you even add water) the better your chances of success.
Click to expand...

I looked at your pics of your 90g reef. I noticed that you moved your rocks between early Feb. and mid. Feb. Why did you choose to do this? The later position has empty spaces created between the piles of rock. Are you planning on putting some type of conflicting anenomes or corals in the tank? I read an article in a reef tank magazine last night, which suggested placing live rock spread apart in "clumps" (if you will) rather than just piling everything up all in one huge pile.

I guess right now my main concern is lighting as well as what to put in the tank. What makes this harder is that these are not mutually exclusive. Would a single 96w PC bulb do the job? I know these put out more concentrated light, but I guess my concern is the amount of Kelvins one of these would put out for use by the corals and other organisms on the live rock. I want to be sure that everything would grow and photosynthesize correctly.
 
Cearbhaill, I noticed you have your T5s directly on the tank. I was looking at purchasing T5s but was told to keep them 12" off the tank. Any experiences with leaving them right on it? Are your glasstops still on the tank?

I am from Tampa and noticed your Bucs shirt. Let me know if you ever want to trade some stuff.

Mike
 
I don't want to sound like a jerk or anything, but I'd appreciate if we could more or less stay on topic. I guess it's just somewhat of a pet peeve of mine when threads get hijacked by a different topic. Just throwing that out there...

Oriongirl - When you say maybe 4 fish in the tank, what size fish are we talking? When I said maybe between 5-8 fish I was thinking of fish on the smaller side. I'm also not planning on trying anything like trigger fish or lion fish (even though they're really cool). I was thinking more along the lines of mid to adult sized clown fish if that gives you any sort of idea.
 
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