Just got a 40 gallon saltwater tank that was already pre-established. (just bucketed up the water and transported) Right now it has a small amount of live rock, 2 clarke clownfish, 1 damsel fish, 2 sea snails of some sort and a couple star fish (maybe 1/2 inch big really small ones) also has an anenome (spelling?) and some mushrooms and polyps. Had a couple questions and I'd love any suggestions. I want to put a hood on it (just for looks basically)
1) i've notice the water level has dropped maybe 1/4 inch since sunday, is that normal with saltwater? my 55 gall. freshwater i added maybe 3-4 gallons a week or so from evaporating.

2) i know i have to move very slowly with this compared to freshwater, going to the reef convetion in two weeks and get approx. 30-35 pounds rock and maybe some frags.. what is the best order to put things, ex. fish/rock/snails (cleaner things)

3) it has a fluval 205 canister filter, a 30 gallon power filter (i know its a lil small but i'm sure it helps) and a protein skimmer, the skimmer needed a new O-ring in the bottom of the tube since it was leaking (or maybe i did it wrong who knows) so i go that, just keep forgetting it at work... but do i need it with that much filtration?

4) the guy i purchased the setup from lives near by and has an RO system, i want to store maybe 10-15 gallons at a time of this here for changes and adds, what would be the best way to store it. I want something closed up i can put in my barn and then transport. also should i mix the salt when i get it or wait till useage time?

okay enough questions... heres a pic of the saltwater and the freshwater (just for fun of it)





all the freshies are so hard to get a good pic of since they dont quit moving. lol

Congrats on your new tank. 40 gallon is a nice size to start with. I started with 10 lol... and moved up to a 30 cube. I wanted a 45 bow front but found an irresistible deal on the 30. Anyway...

You need a minimum of 30 pounds of live rock. Buy it on craigslist and make sure it has no aiptasia. As far as the hood goes some people recommend just using plexiglass on top to help with the evaporation, others say use a netting or plastic egg crate to help with heat issues during the hot months. It will really just be a preference. Either way won't be very expensive. I did eggcrate and cut it to shape so that my fish wouldn't jump out. I used a Fluval 205 which is rated for only up to 40 gallons. It did a nice job on its own keeping the water clear but it was a lot of labor. You have to clean it out once a week or your nitrates will skyrocket.

I ended up trading the Fluval for an Amiracle wet/dry which I highly recommend. You would need to use an overflow with it and if your tank isn't drilled which I assume it isn't you will need a hang on back overflow. The overflow has proven its worth since I started using it just by keeping the surface skimmed and clear of dust and oils. Using the wet/dry means you would have to pump the water back to the surface which means that pesky evaporation won't show in your main tank.

You still get the evaporation but it shows in the wet/dry. The wet/dry would work as a refugium as well as making it easier to do water changes with out shocking the main tank. I didn't use bioballs in mine. I used 15 pounds of live rock and some chaetomorpha algae. I have mine set to where a light comes on in my stand when the main light goes off to keep the chaeto alive.Another plus is you can put your skimmer and heater inside that instead of the main tank doing away with the clutter.

I think I'm rambeling now but those are things to consider. I bought my wet/dry from craigslist for 40 bucks and it came with the overflow. It wouldn't cost much to set one up and you can do away with those nitrate creating filters all together selling the Fluval for 60 bucks or whatever. win win! Good luck

Nice start!
1) its fine, it will drop that quickly. just top off with RO water.
2) Make sure the live rock is cycled and cured or it may kill your fish when you add it. If its not, put it in some saltwater filled buckets with a powerhead, light, and heater for a few weeks until its cured. Frags will just need to be acclimated like a fish would be.
3)These filters are really used because there's not enough live rock and macroalgae to properly filter the tank. You can get rid of those completely by adding more live rock (which you're doing) and adding some macroalgae (like chaetomorpha) to either that power filter with a light, or a HOB refugium (basically a HOB filter with the filters removed and replaced with the macro algae). You'll also need to make sure you have a couple power heads to flow the water around the live rock and coral for it to be able to filter the water properly.
4)Store it without salt, then add salt and premix with a heater and powerhead for 24 hrs prior. You can store it in regular sealed buckets or water containers.

i was on reefcleaners.com you get the "reef cleaner package" that has like 40 "things" in it... is that like way over kill? i mean i know in freshwater snails are actually like mice.. breeding little vermon... but i would love to have some crabs and stuff, but didn't know if the giant package of snails and crabs was insane?

yeah I don't know about 40. I have 12 small blueleg hermits and 2 snails and they keep my tank very clean. I had to toss in some algae waffers today so they wouldn't starve

its actually recommended to have 1 cleaner per gallon.. so 40 is actually a good number..

I'd actually get a big mix of different snails and crabs. I have 10 reg legged crabs, 1 electric blue legged crab, 7 nerite snails, 2 turbo snails, and uhh, 5 other snails, and a conch (cleans and mixes the sand up to keep it nice), a coral banded shrimp and a cleaner shrimp.