Planning for a new setup

[saltwater in nebraska]

I'm new to the saltwater world. I've had freshwater, and have been reading all I can the last 2 months. I'm looking at a 4' tank, not sure on depth or height yet, to go in my basement. I'm going to set it in the wall of the rec room, with the back open to a small room. All equipment still has to be purchased so I'm still looking at options. I'm also a DIY kind of person, an engineer if that explains it.
I'm planning on a DIY sump w/ refugium (skimmer, and heaters in here), DSB with some LFS live sand on top, dead base rock with some LFS live rock. I have a 29 gallon as a freshwater right now that will become a hospital/quarintin tank in the future. I will start out with a FO, with the idea to go reef in the future (only some hardier corals), by the way, patients isn't a problem of mine. Fish I would like to plan for in order of how much I like them currently, knowing some have to be added later.
Flame Angel
Mated pair of Clowns w/ Anemone
Royal gramma
Yellow Tang
MAYBE THESE AS WELL?
Manderin fish
Cleaner Wrasse
Jawfish
Yellow tail Damselfish or some Chromis (if it is to aggressive it will stay in the hospitle tank when it's not in use.
NOW FOR QUESTIONS
1) what would be a good depth and height? I don't want MH, I'll probably end up with 250W to 350W worth of lighting, some or all NO or PC.
2) I know it will take a long time for the dead rock to become live, do I need additional filtration until it does?
3) I would like to use a hardy fish or 2 (under $10) to help cycle it, what would be good one that would co-exist with what I'm planning, or will one of them work?
4) Can I start out with a small cheap skimmer, that will eventually go the the 29gal while my bioload is small, I would eventually like to build one but feel experience with one first would help.
As you can see I love DIY projects and I hate spending more money than I have to (Engineer thing). If there are any problems with what I'm planning or advise, please give it. I know some people will say you have to have MH, but I'm not going to. Sorry message is so long and thanks in advance.

 

[petey]

where would i start? hmm... well first on the size. 4 ft is fine, i would try and have the tank 3 ft deep and at least 2 if not 2 1/2 ft high. this gives you tremendous ability to "scape" the aquarium. use a DSB and as good a skimmer as possible. if you have a bunch of rock, i would be sure whatever fish you use for the transition can be netted out when and if you want. the more rock the more hiding places. as for a "sick" tank, with a good reef system i jave never needed that. rather have a good tank for plants rocks etc.. to keep trates and such down, plus a great spawning bed for "lil" critters that eventually can filter into the reef tank. mine is higher then the reef and flows straight down into the reef with the overflow into my sump. my 2 cents

 

[thor]

on your fish i would lose the mandarin and cleaner wrasse the mandarin will starve from no pods (in a new tank) and the wrasse will (mostly likely) starve from not enough parasites to eat, and for cycling just get some chromis, or better yet thrw dead shrimp in there and that will get your ammonia going(this is what i did and my cycle is nearly done)
as far as your fish selction you will want at least a 75g so when your building make sure it can hold that much, you will need this much for the tang,
from what you said you wanted you can hve this in a 75g
Flame Angel
Mated pair of Clowns w/ Anemone
Royal gramma
Yellow Tang
Chromis (more than one would do better as they are a schooling fish)
Jawfish
NOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS
1)4 ft i would try and have the tank 3 ft deep and at least 2 if not 2 1/2 ft high
2)about 1 yr and you wont need added filtration
3)i suggest shrimp but if you want to use fish use chromis
4)yes you can, truthfully you dont really need a skimmer they are just very helpful for your tank

 

[krusk]

Here is my .02 cents about the small skimmer that eventualy goes into your 29 Gallons tank
Skilter 250 is a protine skimmer. It also has a filter that include machenical and activated carbon.
4' tank, please get 90G tank instead of 75G and get 4 x 110W VHO(benefit for your Anemone) and in the future when you decide to change to reef you don't really have to upgrade to Metal Halide.
You have the patien, but Live sand and live rock give you alot of benefits not just speeding up the cycle process. There are more to it but I let the experts in this forum explain.
I hope this help

 

[fshhub]

get some blueprints, and build the skimmer, you'd be better off, in the long run, they are not that mechanical , that an engineer shouldn't be able to do it
and a cheaper skimmer, i'd put the money into building yours, because most cheaper skimmers, although the company says they are good enough for..... tanks, are overated, there are very few cheap skimmers that should do well on that size of a tank
and, i like the idea of cycling with shrimp instead of fish, who cares about the money, we care about fish, and soon enough, you will(if you don't already)
HTH

 

[saltwater in nebraska]

Thanks everyone for your advice. As far as the tank I can't go over 4' in length because of the tank location, I was thinking 2' deep and 2' high as well, I'll have to measure to see how deep I could go and still leave me room to work behind it. As far as the mandarin starving, I was figuring I would have to add this a year down the road or so. I also would wait to add the tang until later, from what I've read. I do like the idea of several schooling chromis, and I do care about the pets I keep, I'm just use to cycling freshwater tanks with some cheap hardy fish, they always seem to get through it and thrive after. The 29gal will be used as a quarintin tank, I'm hoping to quarintin all new fish for 2 weeks after it is set up.
How does this this look for a schedule, no set on time in between.
1) Set up aquarium with sump and small skimmer, DSB and lots of dead base rock. Install 1/2 of planned lighting, 2-3 Watts / gallon. Cycle.
2) Add some live rock. Cycle
3) Add 3 chromis
4) Add some live sand
5) Add royal gramma
6) Add jawfish
7) Set up quarintin tank with small skimmer, build larger skimmer for main tank.
8) Add some chromis to bring the school up to 5 or 6.
9) Add remaining lighting, go up to 4 or more Watts / gal.
10) Add mated clowns and host Anemone
11) Add Flame Angel
12) Add Yellow tang
13) If I haven't already added any corals, then I would start here, or else look at a 2nd tank.
I'm planning on monitoring the life on my rock and occasionally getting a hand picked piece of LR from the LFS to add. I would also add some clean up crew inverts whenever I thought it needed it, how soon will I need some? I like as much diversity as I can have, a star, shrimp, crabs, snails. Any additional advice?

 

[kenobi]

Understand I do the same thin with taking time and saving money
Fish only you can save on lighting
Don't need alot
Skimmer you will not need for awhile way after it cycles.

 

[kenobi]

Understand I do the same thin with taking time and saving money
Fish only you can save on lighting
Don't need alot
Skimmer you will not need for awhile way after it cycles.

 

[garyfla]

Hi
My .02 cents. When you build the tank
into the wall consider how it will be viewed,standing or sitting
You mentioned that you have access behind it.
Don't put the tank so high that you cant touch the bottom.Best in every area.
You can use stool or bench to gain access but
thay always seem to interfere with other things I like to be able to view the tank
from at least two sides more if possible?
The best views are through the longest part
IMO also helps assess water clarity that you don't see headon. gary

 

[saltwater in nebraska]

The tank would mostly be viewed from a sitting area. My recliner would be placed just on the side of it. I would probably put the tank around 24 to 30" off the floor.