Wanting to setup marine tank, couple of questions

[Wookie]

Hi

I'm thinking of setting up a marine tank, the dimensions will be 42" long x 12" deep x 24" high, is this ok or would I be better with a shorter AND/OR deeper tank ?

I calculate the volume to be about 40 gallons (UK), I assume when people quote volume it's what the tank would hold if it was only full of water, not the actual volume of water with all the live rock etc in it ?

Do I need a sump or will an external filter such as Fluval 304 be ok ? or will 25Kg live rock provide enough filtering ?

With a clean-up crew of about 5 shrimp, 5 hermit crab & 5 snails, how many fish would you recommend ?

cheers wookie.

 

[billa_bong]

you know, i would always look into depper tanks over taller, that way you will be able to stack your liverock horizontally back and have a lot of good places for corals.

i would suggest looking at tanks not so tall for a 42 inch tank, my tank right now is 48 inches tall but is 29 inches tall and it was really hard to stack liverock that high.

i would suggest getting a tank not that tall and maybe a little deeper/longer.

well you can use a canister filter, i have seen people modify them to use liverock and etc instead of carbone and other things, but i would highly recommend looking into a sump or evedn a hang on refugium for your 40g.

if your doing a full reef, you want to keep with in that 4 inch per fish rule, if your more peaceful fish that wont get territorial, maybe push it a little (if you have a protein skimmer)

 

[steelhealr]

I agree with billa bong....less height, more depth gives more room for aquascaping, but, most importantly, if you are going to keep corals, easier penetration for light.

In general:
--1 snail per 1-2 gallons
--on crab per 3-5 gallons or only one large crab

SH

 

[maestro]

with regards filtration it depends if you are going for a fish only tank or reef tank.

If fish only then external will be ok with the live rock, if a reef tank then ditch the external and use 20kg live rock and a skimmer

 

[superman]

I'd go with a skimmer regardless of fish only vs. reef in anyting larger thatn 20 gallons.