Hi all. I began my saltwater adventure with nano tanks and am going to see how I fair with a 40 gallon. I was last on the forums a few years ago, and still quite naive with expectations. Doing a few things wrong if you catch my drift. I’ll be going with the 40 gallon breeder from petco as they are on the cheaper side, obviously I plan on making sure leaks aren’t a problem for me, and was even going to see if I could DIY something rimless of it, not quite sure yet if that would look good. A 20 gallon tank beneath it with a DIY sump and trusty silicone will be my main source of filtration. I’m here to ask a few pointers of the forums. What kind of lighting do you think would be best for soft coral growth with this size tank? As soft corals are primarily what I will be sticking with, but if I change my mind I’d like something very capable of hard coral species growth as well. Planning of keeping a very small amount of fish but that is the least of my worries. I’d like to make it a peninsula if possible. What aquascapes could you guys conjure up? I really want corals to fill up the tank. Nicely in the future. All things considered I also need to plan my sump a bit more, going with a refugium style featuring chaeto. I also need to know how I’m going to get my water down to it, I don’t have much experience with cutting glass that isn’t straight, such as what will be made for the sump. Sorry to double back to lighting but I know I will be going with LED, I ask which brand and model would be best for my tank. Back to filtration, should a skimmer be present, or will chaeto be enough, with frequent enough water changes in small sizes. That’s all for now, but PLEASE, comment here and let me know what you think about it, and also, I’m always up for learning new things, thanks
