help me set up my 40 gallon tank

[joe234hk]

Hi,
i want to set up my 40 gallon tank. The dimensions are 36L 15W 16H. the equipments i haev so far are a single flourscent light hood, fluval 203 canister filter, 4 whisper filters, pinguin 1440 power head, submersible protein skimmer. lots of decorative corals, and a half bag of crashed coral and gravel.

I NEED help in deciding what i should throw away and what i should keep. Alos, i need to know what i might need to upgrade or buy. I want this to work so i'm going to post pictures of every step that i intend to do. So at the end we get a good tank.

 

[Mikef1]

Do you want to make it a reef tank or a fish only.

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to Reefs.org! (man, I wish I had that little banner the moderators use, since I seem to ge to the nebs faster than them! :wink: )

I think your off to a fairly good start... I ave no experience with those whisper filter things, so I couldnt tell you much...
First thing that needs to go if you want to do any sort of reef tank is the light strip you have. Regular fluorescents just arent going to cut it, as I have run into the same problem myself. You can have some online store build you a custom setup with metal halides and VHOs or Power Compacts for a decent price (for my 30" long 29 gallon, I got quoted in the $300 range). If you want to do the cool SPS hard corals, youll need at least 6-7 watts per gallon; Im sure if you look at the total combined watt-outputs of all your options that youll be able to figure it out.
Nextly, you bought decorative corals? As in fake ones? Yeah, if you want a reef tank, then get a reef tank. Dont be a ninny or a poseur (poser?). Fake corals are for ninnies and lazy people. 8)
Its cool; once you get to know the real deals, youll never go back!
Next is your substrate. I would go purely live sand. Forget that crushed coral gravel and pebble crud. If you want (I would never do so, but...), you can mix in up to like 50% crushed or chipped coral stuff with your live sand, and that might make an interesting effect...
I dont know what you want to do with your tank, your time, and your money; all Im offering is what I would do/am doing to make a real-life reef tank. 8)
Hope that helps, and stay cool! (its hot here in Cali!) 8)

 

[brandonberry]

Before anyone can give you a good recomendation for what to use, we need to know exactly what you want to do. Are you planning to keep corals or just fish. If you are planning to keep corals, will you be happy with low light corals, or do you want the mac-daddy small polyp stony corals such as the acroporas (staghorn). Also, you need to decide on a budget. To keep SPS corals you'll likely need a metal halide or VHO lighting system (>$175), a better skimmer (>$100), live rock (>$200), and a kalk doser ($25) at a minimum. One mistake most people make is trying to jump right into getting the most demanding organisms, but are not willing to do what it takes to keep them alive. With what you have, I'd say fish only. If you are willing to buy some live rock ($50-$75), and a compact flourescent fixture (you can build your own ahsupply.com) you should be able to use what you have to keep some soft corals.

 

[Mikef1]

We really cant go by the watt per gallon theory anymore because of how intensed metal halide lighting it. Its not an accurate way to purchase lighting for your tank