well i thought about it a couple more nights and came out with this rough diagram, im gonna use an 18 gallon(has the same foot print as a 10) and will probably light it with a 96 watt power quad.

my questions for this idea is will having my intake and output for my skimmer be sufficient where i have them or will they need to be moved? also do the bulkheads for my skimmer and my tank return and intake need to be the same???

thanks, steve