Protein Skimmer, Heater, fish compatability, ect....?

[shukusen]

:help: I need to know which Protein Skimmer, Heater, Some sort of pump to move the water in the tank, and a water test kit. Any suggestions? How can you use a sump pump to hide everything, and how does it work? I haven't bought anything yet, I want an 100gal. acrylic aquarium. I'm looking at keeping an eel(not sure which kind yet, an aggressive one), a jewel damsel fish, a gulf toad fish, a barchin scorpion fish, a lionfish(not sure which yet), a tobacco fish, maybe a blue or indigo hamlet, a wolf eel, red dottyback, maybe a Schauinslandi's Sand Perch, a yellowtail fang blenny, a yellow shrimp goby, and a foxface rabbit fish. Can I keep all of these in a 100 gal aquarium? I also have several cleaner/maintenance inverts picked out at the suggestion of tbsaltwater.com, I am trying to keep my tank as natural as possible. This is actually my science project, so I am trying to re-create the ocean as closely as possible. My tank will also have live sand and live rock. Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[tizzo]

I am thinking you should go with the smokin' volcano. How much time to you have to put this together?? A saltwater tank needs to...what we call..."cycle" and this takes about 6 weeks. Can take 4, can take 7 or 8, but 6 on average. A cycle is to build up a tanks natural ability to utilize, burn and convert the inevitable ammonia into a nontoxic nitrate that is easily consumed within your tank.
You can look up "cycle" or nitrogen cycle for more info.
When you set up a tank, you put all that stuff, protein skimmer, heater etc in your tank. A sump goes beneath your tank and has a pump to push the water into your main than then what's called an overflow box to let the water fall down into the sump. With a sump, you can put yout heater and protein skimmer in that so that you cannot see it when looking at the display tank.
I have no idea about the compatability of the critters you have mentioned since I have no experience withj any of them but there is an "aggressive forum" that can better answer those types of questions.
I was kinda vague in my answers because I am trusting you will use this sights search feature, but if you do not find what you are looking for, I or another will be happy to elaborate for you.

 

[shukusen]

I do already know about cycling the tank(I have done alot of research

), I just haven't found much information on filters and things of that nature. Would you reccomend a sump pump? And does it create any sort of a current in the tank? Isn't it kinda hard to get to all of your equipment should something break inside the sump?I haven't found much info on them. Also do you know about hamlets? Will the fish that I posted above overload my tank? oh yeah I have all the time in the world to start this considering the fact I don't have anything yet and I don't have any money right now. So I am trying to get exctly what I want put together then buy it. Thanks for your help I really appreciate it! :happyfish

 

[tizzo]

Imagine this... You have a tank, a 100 gallon tank on a nice wooden stand. There are doors on that stand and when you open them you are looking at basically another tank, prolly a 30 gallon or so. They are usually made out of acrylic for convenince. The pump, that pumps the water back into your display (the one on top) is the only "current" that a sump provides, but as far as equipment accessability, a sump is actually much easier. For an example, my heater just died (

) and as it is, it's behind all my LR in my disply, getting it out will not be fun, if I had a sump, it'd be righjt there in the tank below. Same with the protein skimmer. You will still need powerheads in your display for extra current, but that's it. A sump provides more water so that you can get more fish or have better stability with the fish you have. An extreme example is if you have a 20 gallon tank and a 200 gallon sump then you can have quite a bit of fish because you have 220 gallons of water in your system. You do not NEED a sump, but in order to maintain your water chemistry consistantly, it is a better choice. If you get a sump, then you will need a sump pump in order to push the water up into the display tank...

 

[shukusen]

How big of a sump should I get? Does it matter as long as I don't overload it? I don't plan on having a ton of fish(then again no one does lol). With the live rock and live sand will that take a load off of the sump? Does the sump help control nitrates? I know nitrate stems from ammonia(I think). Do sumps all ready have the protien skimmer, ect.. in them or do you have to buy them seperately? Where do the power heads go on the tank? About how much does a sump and sump pump cost? Where can I find them? Thanks for your help

 

[shukusen]

oh yeah any suggestions on name brands or companies, for equipment?