is this enough or do i need more

[midknight thief]

okay here is what i am looking at getting equipment wise to start my tank:
1. i have a 55 gallon acrylic tank.
2. i want to get a mag drive 7 water pump
3. i want to get a wet/dry filter (no bio balls)
4. i want to get 2 maxi jet 600 powerheads @ 160 GPH
5. i want to get a seaclone protien skimmer 150 w/pump
6. i have standard lighting 1 actinic and 1 regular (i cant afford to upgrade right now)
7. i want to get 50 to 100 lbs of LR (depending on what it will look like as to how much i get)
8. i want to get a 4" DSB
regarding the stuff that i want to get, is it enough? do i need any other equipment? i know the skimmer is not the best, but will it get the job done?
also how does the water get to the wet/dry? if i drill a hole in the acrylic, does gravity take it down to the wet/dry?
i plan on making this a FOWLR and LS to start, but when i get better lighting i will start adding corals. so the fish i get will be reef fish that dont need a reef to survive. so should i leave the bio balls in until i get better lighting or just keep them out to begin with? i dont want to get 8 bags of LS so what kind of sand can i get and then add 1 or 2 bags of LS to start the process?
any other tips or ideas are welcome, i'm a total newbie and just want to get this stuff ordered and get started. seeing everyones pics is getting me all jazzed up .
here is a crude pic of what i want to do. should i move the return farther away from the overflow? how high up should the over flow be?
i know there is a lot of questions, hope someone has the time to help. i sure i will have lots more questions as we go . TIA.......

 

[turbo21]

not bad i would put the bioballs in right from the start also you can use 1 or 2 bags of live sand to seed your sand bed it will be cheaper that way.
Are you sure you want to get a 55 because in the long run you will probably want it bigger. My addvice to you is buy the biggest tank you can afford.

 

[mikegronholz]

Here is my 75g with 250# LR and 170# LS. I run a mag 5 return from the sump, 1 Rio 1400 (2 was too much), 2 300gph powerheads to push from behind the rock and to 225gph power heads to go behind the rock.

 

[mikegronholz]

Here is a VERY crude flow diagram ...

 

[broomer5]

midknight thief
Sounds like a good list.
One thing though - a wet/dry without bioballs is a sump.
If you don't intend to run with bioballs, and you shouldn't need to with that much live rock and deep living sandbed - then you could save some bucks and just use small glass tank under your stand - of even go the Rubbermaid route.
Using a sump will allow you a place to mount the heater - and opens up the door for many possible protein skimmers.
A wet/dry will look more professional - and give you a place to run carbon, or mechanical filter media - so it's not a bad choice by any means. Just a little more moolah.
You may be able to mount your heater in there too.
Skimmer - not sure - depends on the size of the wet/dry.
I'd strongly encourage you to look into a sump for cost and may give you more room for equipment and more water volume.
Naturally - it's you choice.
Having the hole drilled in the back/top of the tank will be your overflow. You'll need a bulkhead fitting and either some PVC or flexible hose to connect this bulhkead to your wet/dry ( sump ).
And yes - gravity will take over from there as the Mag7 pumps water up to the tank - the level will rise to where this overflow hole/bulkhead is located - run out the hole and drop down to the sump ( wet/dry ).
You'll want the hole drilled high enough so when the tank's full - it looks full. Wherever you drill it - will be your FULL LEVEL.
Look at the tank from the front and sides to see where this level looks best to YOU.
The bottom and halfway up the hole will be where the range where the tankwater level is maintained - not the center of the hole. Depends on flow from pump how high up this hole the water will rise.
You'll need some tubing or PVC to return the water from the Mag7 to the display tank. And some type of fitting for a spraybar. Some of the wet/dry kits have this in them.
Others may not. No big deal - off to Home Depot.
50-100 lbs or live rock is great, 75 lbs would be a pretty common amount for a 55 gallon tank.
Sounds good - have fun getting all your stuff.
Setting up a new tank is always a blast !

 

[midknight thief]

thanks for the info broomer5
now just one more question before i order the stuff.
what about the powerheads? are 2 maxi jet 600's enough or should i go with 2 maxi jet 900's?
the 2 600's will give me a turn over of about 320 GPH and the 2 900's will give me about 430 GPH.
thanks again guys

 

[broomer5]

I like a lot of water circulation in my tank, but I can not help you selecting the Maxi600 vs the 900's.
I've never owned either so I don't know what to tell you except
^bump^

 

[mikegronholz]

You can see from my stuff above, I run a LOT of circulation. As I learned this weekend, most of the circulation game has to do with where everything is positioned. I "re-figured" out how to use my other Rio 1400 and the fish are loving it !!! They have what looks like mini-drag races across the tank, whereas before they turned in to 1 powerhead and swam up stream. Now they swim all over, up, down, left, right.
To make sure they weren't getting blown around, I turned one off. They sat there and looked at me as if to say "Come-on stupid, we were having fun". I turned it back on and they were swimming everywhere. They had fun.
I can make 1 VERY important suggestion,...keep water flowing from BEHIND the rock to the front. Most of my "crap" settled there until I got powerheads for back there. Since adding those, amm. has never risen. This seems to be the problem I was having early on with amm. always being .25.
My 2 cents ...