Hi Noobeef! Welcome to TR!
Okay....sounds like you're doing your research! Good for you! Have you, by any chance, used this tank for a freshwater system or have you ever dosed
copper-based medication in it? If so, you might want to consider trying to get that stuff out of the silicon in the tank. The
copper is pretty toxic for most invertebrates.
Filtration - I, and most of those here at TR, are proponents of protein skimming. A
skimmer is mostly removing dissolved organic compounds. Bacteria are typically not affected by this. Some people worry about plankton getting ripped to shreds in pumps (which are part of the
skimmer compilation); however, they usually do not decimate an entire population. In terms of bacteria, if you are going with
live rock and sand, you will have so much bacteria within these substrates - so NO WORRIES!!!! I actually had a huge bacterial bloom in my tank recently and my
skimmer actually stopped producing!!! I was almost wishing it would get some of the bacteria out of the tank!
Are you planning on having corals at some point?? If so, I would seriously recommend investing from the get-go in a
skimmer!
Your fish load and selection sounds okay for the tank. You're not going with large fish or tangs that need lots of space to swim about.
Lights - again, so much of this depends on what you want to do with the tank...if you want to have corals, then your needs will be much different.
Ocean water - this is debatable. There are a lot of potential parasites in the ocean waters. You would NOT want to get these into your system. In addition, depending on where you collect the water from, there could be a lot of toxins present. People that DO collect water for their systems typically travel a ways out, where the currents are strong and the water is deep, in order to collect clean water. I would recommend starting out with manufactured salt mixes. It's much easier to know what you're working with. If bacteria are your main concern, starting out with
live rock and sand would be your best, and safest, bet!
