Finally Ready for a real reef... Please help out

[uvm-med]

Well I've been a long time (5year) reader of Saltwaterfish message boards and have really learned a lot. I have also had a saltwater tank for 5 year, with attempts of passive fish only, aggresive fish only and pseudo reef. Unfourtunatly I have moved my tank 4 times in 5 years (3 moves and one upgrade from 55 to 90) and have had problems with each move... I will find out where I will be for at least 3 years in March (I'm graduating med school and starting work as a resident) and want to do a reef the right way. I also will be redoing my floors meaning another teardown of the tank, which I am looking at as an opportunity to get my setup done correctly this time!
In brief, I now have a 90 show with 55 for sump/fuge. My lighting sucks and I WILL be getting MH. My skimmer also sucks and will be upgrading.
My overall questions are:
1. Any suggestions for MH/PC light kits for a 90. I had no immediate intention of SPS. I want shrooms, brains, colts, zoos and polyps.
2. Suggestions for a good skimmer for a 90+55
3. Any good hood plans would be appreciated... I am fairly talented with woodworking.
4. Any good easy coral suggestions would be wonderful!
5. I want to do this right so PLEASE any advice that would make the next few years easier in establishing a reef would be great!
THANKS!!!

 

[120reefer]

Well.. first off, your set up is already great to work with.. 90dt with a 55 sump/fuge is great. As for lighting goes. IF you were looking to get MH.. i would say either 2x175w or 2x250w halides. If you want to help with the day/night cycle... suppliment with pc/vho/ho lighting and moonlights. I personally have 2x250w halides w/ 192w pc and moonlights over my 120 reef and works wonderful. However.. you may want to do a search on T-5 fixtures as well... it would be a bit cheaper and as long as your tank isnt too deep.. you'll be able to keep sps/clams with no problem. As for skimmers... if your looking for the BEST.. an Aqua C EV120 or EV180 will work wonders. From personal experience and from many on this board will tell you they are one of the best out there. As for the hood plans... I'm sure if you give your dims of the tank someone on here can help.. there are a lot of talented people on this site. And as for good easy corals to start with... remember if your going to want to do sps later on.. they need good flow.. so i wouldn't recommend doing any softies.. they will just get blown all over the place. A good starter as always would be Zoas, Mushrooms, Rics, starpolyps, ect.. then start moving onto the higher flow/light sensitive sp. Hope it helps