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Hello everyone!

I've currently got a FOWLR 18 gallon tall tank with an Eclipse 1. 30 lbs of live rock, 30 lbs of live sand and a CPR Bak Pak 2 protein skimmer.

I just found a 55 gallon (48x13x20) SeaClear acrylic tank and stand for $50 so I decided to pick it up. I'm trying to plan out a migration to this new tank and hoping you can guys can offer some advice. I'm eventually upgrading to a 125 gallon corner tank, so my hope is that I can leverage my upcoming purchases for use in that setup eventually.

1) Filtration - what type of setup should I consider? Perhaps a setup with a skimmer built in (sell my old one?)?
2) Lighting - I'd like to host some corals in the new tank. Something for my pair of perculas!
3) Anything else I should be thinking about?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Jeff

filter- i would go with a sump.
lighting- it depends on what you want to keep, if you want an anemonie, you would need metal Halides.
It all depends on what you want to keep with you clowns(fish)

sumps can be exspensive. live rock/sand and skimming are all the filtration you need. just get a hang on the back skimmer.

I say dun use a sump as well unless u make one big enough for your next 125gal...at this stage a canister and a skimmer will do a good job for you

Sumps expensive???? hmmm, maybe $50-60 for a home made one, including pump. A canister filter? hmmm, $100+ for a decent one. Besides, with a sump, no filter to clean, and no filter materials to purchase.

Sump is the way to go for SW. Makes water changes less needed as well, so more savings in the salt purchases.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Sounds like a sump is the majority opinion. Would a setup like this make sense?
http://www.aquacrylics.com/150info.htm

I'm starting to think about using my 18 gallon for the sump. And buying a 10 gallon to use with my Eclipse hood for my QT tank.

1) Am I on the right track here?
2) Would I be able to hang my skimmer off the sump as well?
3) What other equipment would I need to buy (e.g. a pump to return water to the display)?

Thanks again for the advise and guidance!

PS. Are Oleta and DRO still around these days?

Yes,you can use your HOB on the sump.Just remember when you install the dividers to make that area tall so the water leaving the filter doesn't fall far to avoid noise.
With a sump your cost comes in with the over flow and the return pump.I think you would use a mag five and a 300g overflow.You need to check what the overflow is rated for and the GPM of the pump at the height of the return.
I have a mag 7 and a CPR 600g overflow,works great! hardly any noise.

1. You are on the right track. Get a sump, and it will help a lot.

2. You can use the skimmer off the sump if you just use a regular tank for a sump.

3. You will need a good return pump. Mag pumps are supposed to be good pumps, but I don't have experience with them. Rio pumps are really bad, and you should stay away from them.

A sump can be and cost whatever you want it to. That link shows more of a wet/dry filter than a sump, but can also be made more like a sump as well. A sump and wet/dry filter are two different things, but can be both things. The wet/dry filter, you see in the link, you put bioballs in the smaller cube. These act like the biowheels do on the HOB filters you probably have seen or use. The box is elevated in that link, so as to keep the bioballs out of the covered water, and let the water from the tnak just run over them. This also highly oxygenates the water with a lot of air contact.

A sump is more for housing LR and/or some kind of plant. Like Macro algae caulerpa, or one of the other plants like Chato or such, that both help take nitrates as well as other stuff, out of the water. Thus, makeing for less water changes, and cleaner water. The setup in the link can have LR and/or plants in it as well.

The skimmer can be in a sump, or HOB of the sump, it does not matter. This is another good thing about the sump, less equiptment in the tank, such as also keep the heater in the sump, ect.

You will need a pump, that turns over the tank 3+ times per hour. More usually is better, such as my 75 gal reef tank does 650 gal per hour. Reef tanks need lots of current. But, don't worry about being ready for the 125 you are planning, as you can always use more than one pump, so you can always get another pump when you upgrade to the 125.

If you do use plants in your sump, you will also need some good high lighting. You can custom fit the lighting under your tank stand without having to make it fancy. I just use a couple HO PCs. This way the plants grow quicker, taking up more of the unwanted nutrients of the water. You just trim out your sump every so often then, mine gets trimmed almost in half, every week. Also, with plants you will have to have a wall in your sump, to prevent them from getting sucked up in the return pump.

Another thing, if you plan on having the water full in the sump, you will need check valves to prevent any over flow of water in case of a power outage.

Here are some great ideas for setting up sumps, and building them as well. Read though some of these and you will get the idea. As well you may see one that you would like to set up. http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/diysumpplans/

HTH.....

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There is always a bigger fish...

"if you want an anemonie, you would need metal Halides."

You dont need hailides to keep anenomies. AT my work we keep our anenomies under 2pc lights and the do great. We keep species such as condys, carpets,long tentacle etc
and their alive n healthy.

I have heard this many times. I'm sure some anemones will do better under MH. But many others do very well with other lighting. My sebae is growing huge under VHO lights. Now it is very true, more light is better, and MH is your best bet for concentrated light, it is also not the only option. PC and VHO lights provide very bright light. while Standard flor. lights will provide enough light for some to survive, they will not thrive, and can even die slowly.

Dan