40 gallon setup - questions on filtration

[hirm]

Ok peoples here the deal,
I have decided to get a 40 gallon tank as that is the highest gallon vol i want to go as a first tank I plan this to be a fish only with live rock, what filtration should i go with
4" live sand bed, ?? how many pounds of live rock..
in terms of lighting what would be sufficent .. in terms of fish? should i have like 2 damsels.. what else?
thanks

[theringnebula]

I currently have a 40 gal tank (36 * 18) and have had great success with it so I will tell you what I have:

AqauC Remora Skimmer
2-3" Fine Oolitic Sand Bed
+-50 Lbs. Fiji Live Rock
PFO Lighting Pendant that houses 2 28Watt PC's and 1 250 Watt Metal Halide

I have 2 fish: Maroon Clown and a Royal Gramma

The tank also has:

Frogspawn
Clavularia
Sinularia
Sarcophyton
Colt Coral
Bubble Coral
Button Polyps
Red/Green Brain
Favites
Mushrooms
Crocea Clam
8-9 Scarlett Hermits
12 Astrea Snails
Cleaner Shrimp
Brittle Star

[GOOD (G)REEF]

A 4" sandbed sounds good. If you are going to go FOWLR, why not just make it a reef. Really the only extra piece of equipment you would need is upgraded lighting, and that's not too much more in the grand scheme of things. The amount of live rock depends upon if you want a reef or FOWLR. Let's say I haven't convinced you to get a reef (which you will decide to convert your tank to eventually:D), then it dpends upon what kind of fish you want to get and how much swimming room they need. For smaller fish like damsels, I would load that baby up. Then there's less to buy when you decide to convert it to a reef;) I would say the most you could put in there without really overcrowding the tank is 50-55 lbs. If you add the rock slowly over a period of time, make sure the stuff you add down the road is cured, so that when you put it in your tank the die off won't kill your fish. I would also not get the damsels. They are very aggressive and will attack any less aggressive fish (which are much more pretty than the damsels are IMHO). And lastly, the lighting issue:

For FOWLR: Just a couple flourescent tubes.
For Reef: Depends upon whether you SPS, LPS, softies, clams, or a combo. For a very nicely lit tank I would say a single 250 watt MH pendant or retrofit kit would do for almost anything.

HTH!

[seasheltie]

You've gotten excellent advice and I'll add just one more thing. Forget the damsels. I have finally caught the one and only damsel I ever bought and he was cute as a button as a juvenile and a big 6+ inch killer as he grew up. In a 40 gallon, I'd think about a pair of tank raised Percula clowns, a royal gramma, maybe a yellow headed jawfish since you'll have a deep sand bed. Pick up a copy of Scott Michael's book, Marine Fishes, for more ideas of who is compatible with whom and mature fish sizes. From my own experience, I'd avoid damsels, hawkfish...if you plan to add shrimp, and pseudochromis. Good luck!