Hi All, New Set Up Any Help Welcome Please

[proflight2000]

Hi everyone, I am new to the saltwater aquariam hobby as such, I used to keep tropical freshwater fish for years so have a little understanding of some principles etc. I am setting up an Aquanano 40 tank, not huge for sure but I don't plan a massive expansion, it is something to liven up my living room with just a few fish and hopefully a few bits of coral etc.
 
I am going to be bedding the tank with live sand as basically I prefer the look of sand even though I appreciate it will be a little more difficult cleaning with it being so fine. I am also going to be adding live rock in porportion to the tank size and away from the glass etc. My intention then is to fill the tank and then just leave it alone  for a month to get things moving biological wise, I may add a couple of hermit crabs after 3 weeks if everything is going ok.
 
Just a few questions if I may?
 
1) Where is the best place to site my heater? this untit holds everything in the back so it cannot be seen, just wondering if the heater would be better visible inside the tank.
 
2) What is correct heat for a saltwater tank?
 
3) In respect of salinity, what is the ideal? I will get a hydrometer for this, but need some advice on best quality.
 
4) In a tank this size, what realistic amount of fish can I maintain, would like to include bottom crawlers like shrimp as well.
 
5) I have read about evaporation and that salt stays there, so it is best to top up with fresh RO water, is this correct?
 
Thank you very much for any help you can offer
 
Regards
 
Terry

 

[cambojnr]

I have no experience in salt water but I can tell you now that that tank is to small for any sort of marine fish I think, some shrimp would be fine in there and maybe the crabs, but you need to look up cycling and do a heck of a lot of research before setting up a marine tank, as something that size for your first marine tank is gonna be hard for you to maintain if you have no experience in fish keeping at all as what the fish store tells you is lies basically.

 

[proflight2000]

I don't go as far as accusing them of lying, I have seen a few of these tanks working and as long as common sense is the key then they are capable. I have experience of 15 years of freshwater fish keeping, and like anything these things are a learning kerb. But thanks for your comments.