sounds good, I have a ten gallon but with 80w lighting, I used a emperor 280 filter on it, just had to cut the tube a little so it would fit, I also have a ac200 but id go with a 500 if I was you, might want to think about a skimmer, you dont need one though, I dont have one, also its going to be a lot cheaper to just buy a traditional 10g, I have an all-glass myself, 1-2 inches of live sand is fine, I have 24lbs of Live Rock in mine, umm dont do that, odds are it wont fit as easily as mine did plus then theres not to much room, id say 18lbs will be beautiful, try to get some branched peices and some flat and flat sloaping with a round peice to just stick somewhere and let zoa's take it over, firefish will be nice but you could put 2 fish in if youd like, theres no hurting it, I have/had a firefish in mine, im not sure if hes still there, hes been missing for 2 weeks or so but he did this once before and reappeared, very strange, im keeping my fingers crossed, um also think about some powerheads maybe on a timer but you dont have to, and 50-100w heater will be fine to, a lot of people reccomend ebo-jager, I never had one, I have a visi-therm that works fine, 50w, well good luck and let us updated