is this enough to get started?

[midknight thief]

i guess i will post this here since i wasnt getting much reply in the other forum
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 returns farther away from the overflow? how high up should the overflow 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.......

 

[slothy]

well one thing dont waste your money on a seaclone... i have one for my 40 and it works okay, i would spend some extra money and get a better one (only used mine so i can recommend one)....
you will need some type of overflow box built inside of the tank (acrylic works)
www.lifereef.com has nice wetdrys.. and ya might wanna add a heater to that list
and the forumla to fiqure out your sand is
length (of tank) x width (of tank) x desired depth of sand bed x .0579 = lbs of sand needed(all measurements are in inches)
you could go with 1/2 ls 1/2 sand.. i did that with my tank..

 

[erikandstacie]

I'm not an expert, so I'll keep quiet on all but the Seaclone skimmer. I have a 150 in my 75 gallon, and it seems to work great. I have to dump it out every day, and my water paramiters are consistently good. I get my water tested at my lfs, and they told me whatever I'm doing, keep it up.

 

[erikandstacie]

I will admit though, that I don't have experience with any other skimmer, so I have nothing to truly judge it by...

 

[majakarot]

i run a seaclone 100 on my 75 and it works great, i do have to adjust it every few days or it starts dumping bubbles into my tank, i don't think you would need the 150 unless you plan to get abigger tank later. if you still don't want a seaclone i hear the new prizm skimmers work well