New Member w/ a few questions about setup...

Hey everyone, I have a 40 Gallon acrylic tank that's 36wx15xhx15d, I have had this tank running FOWLR for around 1.5 years, the only equipment I had was a standard hood with a regular light, an aquaclear 40-70 Gallon hang on filter and a Koralia 3 powerhead. I have around 30lbs of LR and around 1.5-2" of live sand.

In the tank I had a Foxface, 2 Percula Clowns, a sixline wrasse, a flamehawk, a clown goby and a pair of firefish gobys. For invertabrates I have a camelback shrimp, a fire shrimp, an emerald crab and various snails and hermits. The tank ran like this for a long time, I did biweekly water changes and never had my nitrates above 20ish. All other levels were in check.

For whatever reason all of my fish died within a couple of hours starting with the foxface, the only thing that survived was the clown goby, the shrimps and the crabs and the snails.

I decided I wanted to upgrade my filtration, lighting and other stuff so I could setup a reef tank. I've since purchased a JBJ Reaction 45, an AquaC Remora 1200 Skimmer and an Aquaticlife 36" T5HO Hood with moon lights.

The only new thing in use now is the lights, I'm thinking I should setup a sump/refugium before getting to far into this, I'm guess I'm looking for advice here, attached are a few photos of my setup, it's custom built under my stairs.

 

Nice tank, i've always wanted an in-wall.
Looks like you have plenty of room for a sump/fuge in there. Throw an overflow box on it, set a tank on the floor with some baffles, hang a light over it, and get a return pump off eBay.

 

Oh and welcome to 3reef, 40.

 

Definitely put in a sump! There are too many benefits to name. Looks like you have a perfect spot for one too! Good job on the pics. They're pretty much mandatory here!

Ivan

P.S...I like how the recliner is turned towards the tank not the fancy TV