Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
I strongly recommend you not go with an 18" wide tank if at all avoidable. I have one and sorely regret it. As Phyl pointed out and I have learned first hand, it's real tough to aquascape.
I built a custom sump....
Although the G3 is a fine skimmer, I don't think you'll be happy with it as far as size goes. The recommendations are way over stated (IMO as well as others). The regular G4 isn't really a good skimmer either because the pump (sedra 5000) is undersized. The G4+ and G4x...