dream reef plan (40 gal+) experimental ideas test bed tank and planning

[NoahLikesFish]

okay, i am making a commitment. i want to have at least a 40 gallon reef by the end of 2022, i am going to do a lot of theoretical research and planning beforehand in order to make an ideal system that would hopefully require no water changes. theres 3 fish that are must haves for me. a orange spotted rabbitfish, a moorish idol, and a acropora eating filefish (do these eat other sps?) i want lots of inverts and lots of little fishes like gobiodon citrinus. i want it to be a mixed tank with sps lps and softs with a very advanced filteration system that would gas off ammonia and phosphate thru a skimmer esque weir while binding some phos into the substrate which would release over time. i am debating wether i should drill or i should run an aio with refugium and reactors (mabye) i want a large cuc that will keep my system very clean and i want to use 90s aquascaping techniques using fake rocks and coral skeletons for a natural dynamic looking reef and also id like to use minimal live rock because of its sheer cost nowadays. but i will dose garf bug bag, copeopods, some established lr from the ocean i would get for my 20 long and garf grunge. substrate will be a layered system with a plenum then a large amount of biomedia or crushed coral/dolomite then a layer of coarse coral sand then ocean sand or some kind of fine sand. the sump might have a reef pi (i need to learn how they work), for convenience because i travel alot but i would need to learn to code it. id try dosing nitrate if i new i could run it at a balance where denitrification occours and assimilation occours too with macro but i will still have enough raw material in the water for fish, microalgae, and coral growth. i wanna use a calc reactor too to keep calcium stable. id like some comments and suggestions for lighting and other things to make an ideal system also. i want to experiment with rbfa chips so it gives off a white light but benefits my corals too and i dont loose the flouresence of the corals at night.

 

[Dcal]

noah

if you said like a bristletooth or some dwarf angel i wouldve been like not ideal but not horrible. But a moorish idol and the rabbitfish are so far away from being remotely possible its concerning especially since i know you know what is right. citris goby is fine as is acropora filefish if you understand its rough. So many of the filtration things work but im going through like a 5 min crafts deja vu. Like yes it works but just why overcomplicate it to an astrinomical level. you are never going to have a self sufficient tank that can deal with traveling when 1. doing experimental methods 2. wanting to have one of the most difficult fish regardless of what tank you are trying to cram it into

Couple other questions:

I have never heard of offgassing ammonia so if you have a reference i would love to read about it. My concern with this is that there should be no need to offgas ammonia if your tank is working as it should ie nitrifying bacteria. to me most of the rest just looked like big words leading in a circle


If i were you I would just do 40b with appropriate fish, 20 long sump with 15$ DIY ATS and live rock in both sump and main and call it a day. No skimmer, dosing only after testing consistently=.

Youre a smart dude and have come a long way so make it easy on yourself

 

[Jekyl]

Hard to get through all of that. Sounds like a mess waiting to happen though. My advice would be to keep researching. Fake rocks and decorations aren't going to get you a stable system. If the cost of the rocks is a concern I would recommend you stop right now. The cost of setting up a tank is no where near the costs of maintaining a system, not to mention the costs of the corals.