newbie needs advice

[waterspirit]

Allright, I'm going to be trying to set up a salt water tank in the not so distant future and I have a question or two.

What exactly is a protein skimmer and what does it do?

What kind of filter is best, say for a 30-40 gallon fish only tank?

What kind of rock would you use to seed with LR?

[OrionGirl]

A protien skimmer is basically a powerhead, and a long tube, with a collection unit on top of the tube. the powerhead pulls air in and creates very tiny bubbles that swirl through the water in the tube, pulling dissolved protiens and lipids out of the water, forcing them up to the collection cup.

For a FO tank, if you don't have aggressive fish (very few aggressive fish will fit in a 30), will still be live rock/live sand. Easiest to maintain.

Any highly porous rock will be good for bacteria populations.