As far as plumbing I would have the over flow draining into a sump to one of melev's site, this one. Have the overflow T-off so it can drain into both the refugium and skimmer section, and place valve fittings on both so you can control the flow. Place a large return pump in the middle section and have it plumbed back to the return.
I personally like acrylic, just because you can get the rounded corners. Theres pros and cons to both. You can still do a reef with small fish and a centerpeice tang if you want, which would look very nice.
Yeah, you wont want to use tap water in SW, it will cause lots of headaches. For an easy water change it would be possible to T-off the return pump so you can just turn the pump on and have it shoot water into a bucket.
I personally like acrylic, just because you can get the rounded corners. Theres pros and cons to both. You can still do a reef with small fish and a centerpeice tang if you want, which would look very nice.
Yeah, you wont want to use tap water in SW, it will cause lots of headaches. For an easy water change it would be possible to T-off the return pump so you can just turn the pump on and have it shoot water into a bucket.
