boredcpl said:
i have always wanted a saltwater tank but scared it will crash and all my fish are gone..so i want to try it on a smaller tank that i dont need to house my already have fish..i would really love to have a fully aqautic salamander like the one in your pic rweedon..
smaller tanks are harder to keep than larger. with a larger water volume you have a little more room for error (bad water parameters can be diluted with larger water volume, whereas small changes in small tank spell disaster). a 40g hex is perfect for a reef tank. you're limited on predators (frogfish, hawkfish, lionfish come to mind) but there are a number of reef-safe fish and inverts you could keep.
with a hex tank you can stack up your live rock really high, have room for some awesome coral placement and still have room for all water levels of fish.