Well here is another question, Since nobody wanted to anwser the other one:lipssealedsmilie:. Is it worth having a SW tank if all you plan on using is tap water??????????????????:help:
No tap water is not good. Should use RO or distilled. As far as a skimmer some people use them and some don't. Could be a matter of opinion. I've asked the same question and got mixed answers but on a newly setup tank there might not be enough bacteria to remove yet. try asking bout a skimmer in a new tread you might get more answers. hope i helped.
I can't answer the first tank as I don't have a tank that small.. However with the second question it really boils down to the quality of your tap water and the contaminants contained in that water. I personally would NEVER run a SW tank without an RO/DI unit simply due to fact that water quality is what we strive for in almost everything we do with the tanks. But thats JMO