SCA 50 PNP basic sump questions.

Philipgonzales3

New member
Hi,

I am heavily thinking about getting into saltwater tanks. It all started when my girlfriend wanted one of those "cute" Red Ear slider turtles about 6 years ago. She quickly lost interest in it and I started reading up about their space requirements and got a 40 gallon breeder with the heat lamp/floating dock and what not. I then got a 55 gallon tank that I cycled with the turtle and eventually had a handful of Cichlids. Had that setup for a couple of years and then we moved and were unable to bring then with us so we gave them away to our LFS.

With my turtles I ran a Filstar XP XL Canister filter and an internal Fluval U3 filter and I believe for the fish I ran a XP L. Or something like that.

My point is that I have never bought an aquarium with a sump before. I want to do a FOWLR with two Ocellaris Clown fish. The current house we rent is only like 880 square feet, so I have been approved of approximately a 2 foot by 2 foot square by the boss...I mean my wife.

I was going to get this one. https://m.drsfostersmith.com/Product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=21183. All items are 20% off with a promo code.

All the supplies (RODI 100gpd, sand, test kit, heater, hydrometer, etc. come out to 645 before tax and 521 with the promo code.

So it's perfect right? Well I'm like 28 gallons is pretty small and I know I'll want to add more fish in the future. I'm thinking a six line wrasse and maybe a red star fish. I would love a blue tang or whatever Dory is but I think that will have to wait until we move and buy our own house.

Anyway there is the life story, now down to my question.

Would the SCA 50 PNP be overkill for my needs? Like is a sump/protein skimmer, etc of much value in a FOWLR tank? Assuming I never go to reef keeping?

http://www.scaquariums.com/product-p/sca-50gpnpb.htm

If I do get the SA 50 PNP should I ask for anything special to be able to convert it over from flexible tubing to PVC? Different bulkheads? Should I ask for it to be drilled for a Herbie setup? I'm kind of confused how exactly the tank is drilled and what I would need to do to modify it and also what to run in each chamber. I believe I would want to add a check valve to the return and a ball valve to the supply? I've never plumbed anything so any advice/direction would be great.
 
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