My 46 g setup - how to improve?

Hi, here is my current setup:

Equipment: 46 gallon bowfront around 6 months old; around 50 lbs live rock / live sand; CPR Aquatics bak pak hangon the back protein skimmer; 2 maxijet 900 powerheads; aqueon 50 g power filter for activated carbon (just added); T5 HO lights - 2 Zoo Med Ocean Sun 10,000k fluorescent bulbs (24W each).

Livestock: one Hippo tang, two clowns (that seem to get along), one yellow tailed damsel, one purple chromis, one bengal cardinal, 20 - 30 hermit crabs, 2 sand sifting starfish, around 10 snails, 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 emerald crabs; 1 long-tentacle anemone, variety of polyps and mushroom corals.

Would appreciate any input as to how to improve my set up? Do I need a sump filter? If so, what all-in-one brand should I go for (want to keep any plumbing at a minimum)?

 

First off get a bigger tank or trade your tang and SS Starfish for something that will fit/live long your 46. Add a sump/fuge.

 

+1 ^^^^

 

There is alot you could do. You can upgrade your lighting to a 4 bulb 36 inch t5 fixture or metal halide, get rid of the starfish because they will deplete your sand bed of live things and then slowly die from starvation, get rid of the damsel because it is most likely to become very mean, and thats about it.

 

I didn't know the starfish are detrimental to my tank. I've heard that the yellow tailed damsel is actually the least aggressive of all the damsels, and it was my starter fish but I might get rid of it if I can catch it!

 

I definitely agree with this.

 

I would say first and foremost if you plan to do any hard corals is you will have to get a 3' t5 fixture with atleast 4 bulbs. sound like yours is 2' and I dont believe you stated how many bulbs. The hippo tang will eventually outgrow the tank. but it will ake some time. assuming he is small he is ok now in my opinion but if you do not plan on upgrading in the future than you will have to remove him.

So lighting would be my first priority though. welcome to reefing

 

Thats not saying much for a damsel.


As far as the sand sifting starfish. Do you have a deep sand bed?

 

My current T5 HO lighting are 36 inches long with 2 bulbs (using Ocean Sun 10,000K 24W). I just bought this over the weekend, upgraded from compact fluorescents because I just added the anemone and he is doing much better now with the t5s! Hopefully this will suffice right now for my soft corals; don't intend to do hard coral for a while because I want to get the system ripe and mature first.

My sandbed is about 2.5 inches to 3 inches deep, so hopefully I can keep my sand sifting starfish.

Also, as to the activated carbon I'm running, I've been reading Martin Moe's handbook, and he says not to run it 24/7, so I've put my power filter to run on a timer for 5 hours a day - do you folks think that's ok?

Also waiting for my RO/DI filter to arrive this week!

My next upgrade I'm thinking of getting an all-in-one sump filtration system with built in skimmer, wet/dry filter and maybe a refugium, but am clueless as to where to start with all the options out there and seemingly complicated plumbing, so any advice would be appreciated.

 

The starfish will still slowly starve. That's just not a big enough sandbed for it. Depth doesn't matter, "acreage" does.