1. M-pire means that you can put your H.O.B. filters, skimmers, heaters, etc. in the sump below rather than having them in your main display tank.
Here's a picture of a sump so you can understand what we're talking about.
2. Do you already own the canister filter? If not, then don't get it. There's no reason to. If you already do have one, then just run it without filter media in it. It will provide some water movement.
3. What kind of light are you going to get? If you want an anemone, you should probably get some decent PC (Power Compact) lights.
4. Yes, a 10 gallon would be fine if you could fit everything in it. The return water from your sump that's going back into the tank would cause water movement (a disturbance). Most of us use special pumps called POWERHEADS to disturb water in our main tanks, so as to stimulate waves in the ocean, etc. Get some powerheads and get a maxijet brand if you can. AVOID RIO powerheads; they are very dangerous.
5. As for sump filtration, it varies by what type of tank you have (FOWLR, FO, Reef, etc.). If you decide to use a sump, then there are protein skimmers made for sump use that can be placed in the sump tank instead of hanging on the side, like most skimmers.
Suggestions for skimmers:
If you get a H.O.B. (Hang on Back) skimmer, then go with either a bak pak 2 or an aquac remora, the remora being a little better than the bak pak and a bit more expensive as well. As for in-sump skimmers, i can't think of any of the top of my head, but i know that aquac makes one...
I have read Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies
This is a very outdated book. I have it in my fish book library. It considers UGFs to be the best you can have and it says live rock is too much of a hassle.... Awful, outdated book.
theevoys, get these two books:
1. "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert M. Fenner
This book is considered by many of us to be the "bible" of marine fishkeeping. It's written by Fenner, who is one of the best in the world. IF YOU GET NOTHING ELSE, GET THIS BOOK!
2. "Marine Fishes: 500+ Essential-to-Know Aquarium Species" by Scott W. Michael.
This book can be considered as the "pocked-sized fish encyclopedia." It has all the fish that you will ever think about putting in your tank and it's great for when you have questions like, "Is my tank big enough for that?", "Will it eat my corals?", "Does it play nice with the other fish?", etc.
Both of those books are excellent to have, and i strongly recommend you getting them.
Also, here's a general list of everything you will need for your tank:
1. Heater - I recommend an Ebo*Jager heater (200 Watts maybe?)
2. Salt - I recommend Instant Ocean brand
3. Test Kits - FasTest, Seachem, and many others to choose from
4. Oolitic Aragonite Sand - Get some Old Kastle sand (walmart sells this as walmart playsand. look for old kastle on the packaging)
5. Hydrometer
6. A net
7. A tank background - black seems to work best for me
8. An Intermatic timer for your lights
9. A GFI (Ground Fault Interupter)
10. A protein skimmer (see recomendations above)
11. PC lights - I'd go with
Coralife, since CustomSeaLife has gone out of business.
12. A powerhead or two for water movement - maybe a
maxijet 1200 or two 600s?
13. A thermometer
14. As Ray always says, you might get a
Emperor 400 for filtration instead of a fluval. You can use them for water movement and put carbon in them when you need to clear up the tank of medications, etc.
Also, you will probably need some live rock and live sand. Look in the other threads for more info. about live rock.
