Whats good, Whats not?

[BigDog54]

I'm looking to set up a 180 or 240 [acronym:2b667aac5b="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:2b667aac5b]. [acronym:2b667aac5b="Fish only with live rock"]FOWLR[/acronym:2b667aac5b] tank and i've got lots of questions;

1. What kind of pump is best, the external kind (little giant), or the submersible kind (mag pump)?
2. What kinda Flow rate should i have (10x?)?
3. One pump, 2 pumps?
4. Whats the best brand of pump? I was looking at a Mag pump.
5. What kind of lighting would be good for the tank?
6. Whats the best Prot. Skimmer?
7. What the best [acronym:2b667aac5b="Ultra Violet"]UV[/acronym:2b667aac5b]?
8. How big should my sump be? I was looking at a 55 Gal sump.

I hate to say money is not an object because it always is but, i want quality products. I'll spend the money to buy the right stuff or i wont do it at all. Thanks for any suggestions or advise.

[fishfreek]

Well. Lots of ?'s indeed and many of them are very objective so I suspect you will get alot of confilicting answers also. Here is my stab.

1) For large tanks I feel external pumps are best as they provide more flexability in plumbing and also matanince. Plus the larger the pump when its submersible the more heat that can be transfered to the water.

2) A minimum of 10 times the tank size and shooting for 15 to 20 times. You can do this with a combo of a sump and closed loop.

3) Multiple pumps. If one pump fails or needs to be serviced you will have the other pump(s) to utilize and keep some level of circulation going.

4) For external look at little giant or iwaki.

5) For a [acronym:7ea60f5fba="Fish only with live rock"]FOWLR[/acronym:7ea60f5fba] tank where you have no intent to keep corals then you can use 2 6' [acronym:7ea60f5fba="Very high output fluorescent"]VHO[/acronym:7ea60f5fba] bulbs or four 3' [acronym:7ea60f5fba="Very high output fluorescent"]VHO[/acronym:7ea60f5fba] bulbs.

6) I dont use them so I dont know.

7) See answer 6.

As large as will fit. A 55 [acronym:7ea60f5fba="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:7ea60f5fba] will be a nice size or a lower and wider breeder tank of simular capacity.