Wow, 25% a month is nothing! I guess I'm just used to goldfish, which
are giant ammonia farms. I also tend to err on the side of caution, and
do water changes every week regardless of the nitrate level. My FW tank
is pretty understocked so it rarely gets up to 20ppm. I could easily
to 10% every week on the 10 gallon, since that's just a jug full of
water. The grocery store across the street sells R/O water.

This is kind of a "test tank" for sal****er, I figure eventually I'll
stop moving and have a decent job long enough to get a nice big tank
with all the trimmings (the photos of your in-wall 280 made me drool),
and I'd like to start with something small to make sure it's something
I'm really interested in.
I also need something that's easy to move, since I just moved last may
and will probably move again in another year and half. I'm in college
now, and when I graduate I'll be moving wherever I can find a job.

The sump is very interesting, and I'm considering making one, since it
would increase the total amout of water in the system and help
stabalize the water parameters, and get some of the uglier equipment
out of view, if I understand it correctly. Plus I'm always looking for
an excuse to play with my torch (I'm studying metalsmithing so I have a
few of them). But between the cost of the pump and the cost of the
acrylic, I may have to wait for a few more paychecks for that.

I'm very excited I always thought sal****er setups cost $500+
regardless of size, and never really looked into them. But if I
understand correctly, I should be able to keep a few small sal****er
fishies with not too much extra investment. Hooray! It must be time to
start cleaning up that extra tank...