40 gal Tank

I am buying a 40 gal tank with some LR and a couple pieces of coral and 1 clown. the person just has a heater and a HOB filter. He said the clown is eight years old. i am picking it up friday it was 50 dollars for everything. whats the best way to break it down and keep everything alive and will i need any additional equipment like a protein skimmer or power heads?

1st get container's for the live rock and sand keep the sand wet and the live rock submerged in the original tank water, double bag the fish leaving some air space. keep as much of the original tank water as possible, be prepared to transport and setup asap. be prepared to make top off water with "quality water" and salt mix, test it with a hydrometer and match the salinity to the original water. get the tank set back up then acclimate your clown back to the tank remember the water will slowly cool during transport so make sure you heat the tank back up the same way"slowly" I take it the only circulation in the tank would be the HOB filter moving the water around correct? I would invest in a couple of K2's position on each end of the tank pointing toward the water surface, you can continue to use the HOB filter until you are ready to upgrade to a HOB skimmer just make sure you keep the filter clean.

Good luck and enjoy the salty side!

P.S. please post pic's when youre done:)

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just did the move and cleaned the tank. bought 20 Gal salt water from LFS. 10 lbs live rock, 20 lbs live sand and 10 lbs ground coral. the person said it was a 40 gal but definelty false advertised. i acclimated the clown. hope he survives . the tank is 20 gal, I over bought on the dang water! the lady didnt clean this thing in probably a year, i threw out all the fake ornaments in the tank and scrubbed it.

added new heater, powerhead and LED lighting

looks like a good start! you need more rock. congrats!

the rock you have doesn't look cured is that what came with the tank?

Agree. Maybe he bleached it or cleaned it real good. Neither would be a smart move.

there turned out to be no live rock in it when i bought it, it was ceramic coral and a city... threw it out. i bought 8lbs from LFS

good move you dont want all that fake junk. if you do want your LR to act as a good bio filter you will want around 2 1/2-3 pounds of LR per gallon of water
look for rock thats got a good amount of coralline algae it will be pink and full of beneficial critters.

ok cool, can i just add live rock anytime? also i was looking at the reef octopus Nano RS-80 protein skimmer for my tank, what are you thoughts? why is a skimmer better? would i use it with conjunction of my HOB filter? Thanks!

reef octopus are good skimmers, the reason skimmers are better then filters in a marine aquarium is because they don't hold onto gunk that cause nitrates like the filter media does. you can use the filter in conjunction with your HOB just be sure to keep it clean. is the nano rated for 25g? you should get something rated twice the size of your tank. you can add LR as you go along there will always be a little die off during transport.