Well, I am doing this. I went to the store and bought 8lbs live rock, 5lbs live sand, 5 gallons premixed saltwater (just to get me started), a saltwater mater kit, and a hydrometer. I rinsed the tank and filter media with tap water and threw everything in. It's a cloudy mess right now, but once it settles I'll take pictures of what I have so far.
I was talking to the owner of the LFS for about an hour and I got some really helpful information from him (I think). I would like to run it past a few of you and see what you think.
1. with the live rock, live sand, and "live" water, he said that the tank will start to cycle itself...any truth?
2. I need to change the lighting he suggested some LED bulbs and some actnic LED strips (or 50/50 strips)
3. He said he gets some clowns sometimes that are tank bred that reach max 2". If I wanted to put just 1 in the tank, with 2 shrimp, a red leg hermit crab and a snail, my tank would be fine. He said with that setup he suggests a 30% water change weekly.
4. He also said 3 corals would be more then enough. He suggested a mushroom or 2, a anemone (but I would have to watch for stinging), and he mentioned one other.
Is this information about right? He showed me one of the clowns and the shrimp (the shrimp looked awesome!). To me, knowing my bigger tank, and sizing it down...I feel like the bioload seems right, and if the clown really only gets to be 2", I dont see the problem there. Any thoughts?