I started my reef three years ago with the ecosystem....Save your money for lights....
I had a mess ( algae) on my hands untill I added a skimmer. the mud is over rated in my opinion...I went to a regular gravel bed in the refugiun and macro algea same set up just, not alotof $ for the mud. the ecosystem refugium is nice. I built my own to the same dementions. good luck.