FO 40 gallon tank idea?

[Xyzzy]

Despite lurking for a while, I have never posted here before, but I have decided to try something new. The problem is the more I research things the more confused I get and the more expensive it all looks.


I have several years of experience keeping freshwater tropical fish and I understand the chemistry part and taking care of them. All of my setups have been very simple but not very imaginative. However, the fish did very well and I think they were "happy" fish.


I have never done a saltwater aquarium and I am really not ready to do a full-on monstrous reef tank. I would prefer to do a fish-only tank and once I am comfortable with that perhaps move on to more complicated stuff.


I already have a new 40 gallon breeder tank with a glass lid and a durable metal stand for this project.






What I envision for the tank is a deep layer of "live" sand as a substrate, some sort of bright, wavy, live grassy plant all over the place and 5-7 Chromis viridis fish swimming through it.






I am willing to buy a proper filter and lighting and equipment, especially if it is good quality stuff that will last for a long time. I do not have a budget set for this but it would be nice to not waste money. I prefer to buy the right equipment first rather than buy crap equipment several times before having to buy the good stuff.


I chose the Chromis viridis because I really like how they look and they are supposed to be good beginner fish. I do not know if they would hang out in a grassy area in the real world, but I think that it would look cool. Personally, I am not (yet) fascinated with live rock and all of the critters that live in and on it. I just like bright plants and pretty fish. I know that sounds noobish, but I really like to just watch fish swim around. There was a saltwater tank at the dentist I used to go to and it looked like he tried to get one of everything for that tank. It just looked unbalanced even though it was bright and clean. It also did not have any live plants, which I love. The fish were brightly colored but they could not school together and shimmer around. They pretty much kept to certain areas and the overall feel I got from the tank was that it there was no movement or interesting action.


I really like researching stuff so if someone could point me in the right direction that would be cool. First, though, I need to know if this is a legit setup.


Issues I am thinking about:


Grass? Will it thrive at the temperature and water quality that the fish need? Will it grow easily without looking like a bunch of weeds? Will algae take over?
Lighting? How much? LED or florescent? (I saw a light in a video that could be programmed to have transitioning day and night schedules. That seemed very cool!)
Fish? Where do I buy them? How many is too many? Do I need any other critters?
Sand? How much? What type? Will it really become a source of (anerobic?) bacterial filtration?
Filtration? I have experience with HOB AquaClear filters and Ehein wet/dry cannister filters. I have room underneath the aquarium to put in a sump, except it would not be hidden because my stand is an open stand. I like the sump idea but I do not know if I want to deal with drilling the tank and the complexity. I have seen HOB overflows but I have never used one. My biggest concern would be overfilling the tank due to a malfunction. I have never had that problem with my HOB AquaClear filters or my Eheim wet/dry cannisters. Am I being irrational here?
Protein skimmer? UV sterilizer?
Water? Where or how do I make it? How do I set it up so that the tank is cycled before introduction of the fish?


I would like to make incremential progress with this, so if I knew what order I needed to do or buy stuff I could plan ahead. For example, if cycling the tank takes a while I could perhaps start out with the plants and get them going concurrently with the cycle process. I really like monitoring water parameters and I learned a long time ago about the dangers of adding too many water-altering chemicals. I have freshwater monitoring down to a science but it looks like saltwater has additional things to look after.






Most of all, I would like to be a good caretaker for the fish. I would like to derive some relaxation working on this and I would like to introduce my 13 year old son to taking care of fish. Did I mention I just like to watch fish swim around?






I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I can get carried away very easily. FWIW, I do not live anywhere near any fish clubs or pet stores so the majority of my purchases will need to be done online.


Thanks in advance for any suggestions!




--
Mike

 

[Jemi39]

I've never done a saltwater tank, but I have read up alot on it. As for the grass, I have seen some kind of green plants that grow in saltwater.. but I don't if it's a grass. And you can probably ask a lfs about mixing your water. I know the salinity should be between 1.021-1.026 depending on the species in there. And as for other critters.. you should get a peppermint shrimp. They are the coolest guys and they clean up really well xD If I am wrong, someone please correct me.. I'm just trying to offer a little bit of knowledge. I know there are saltwater enthusiasts on here, so you should be able to get every bit of information from them Good luck!!

 

[TL1000RSquid]

Turtle grass is likely what you want.

If you're looking for longevity and initial costs aren't a huge deal LED is the way to go, decent cheap fixture that would also support a reef in the future will run 300 and change basic unit with a timer.

Not a chromis fan they usually don't get along so well in aquaria eventually pick each other off unless in massive tanks, several different cardinalfish species do well kept in groups perhaps take a look at some of those as an alternate. You'll also want to keep a clean up crew of atleast a variety of snails.

Deep sand beds can eventually become a problem, I keep it to 1.5-2" you want to use aragonite base sand and yes sand and rock will become a filtration source.

HOB or canister will be for mechanical filtration, not a fan of canisters on salt tanks they can quickley become nitrate factories, Aquaclears work pretty well I've run them on SW tanks before. Sump is best though, sump can be hidden on a open metal stand just have to be creative can make a curtain and attach via velcro to the stand. If plumbed properly with breaks even with a pump failure you shouldn't flood.

UV not really needed, skimmer would be a good purchase however. If no sump I'd suggest a Tunze. You'll also need circulation pumps Tunze, Hydor, or Jaebo vortech knock off are all decent pumps.

You can buy premixed saltwater and freshwater rodi for top offs at many fish stores, I would however suggest buying your own RODI unit, to kick off the cycling process isn't much different then freshwater, ammonia source will kick it off or adding some established bio media like a few pounds of live rock.
Few links you might find useful http://reefbreeders.com/controllable_led_fixtures.html http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ http://www.reefcleaners.org/ http://www.reefs2go.com/ http://www.marcorocks.com/ http://www.marinedepot.com/