Need Equip Recommendations

[kmurray6155]

Ok folks, here's the question(s):
Setting up a 55Gal FO tank. It will have about 60lbs live rock, 3"bed of live sand. For a filter I have a Emperor 400 Bio Wheel.
What power heads? How many?
I plan on using a Coralife 65 for a protein skimmer. Good choice?
What are thoughts on a UV filter?
What would be the recommended light set-up?
THANKS EVERYONE!!

 

[snakeblitz33]

Hmm, alrighty!
if you have live rock, it's a FOWLR. 3" of sand bed can have problems, generally you should go either shallow with 1" to 1 1/2" or deep, like 10".
Coralife super skimmer 65 is actually a very good choice. A lot of beginners go with a seaclone and realize that it was a poor choice. With the coralife, you are going to have to adjust it just right and use the bubble trap. You are going to have some microbubbles in the return that you can never get rid of, but if that's it, it's well worth having a skimmer on a tank.
UV sterilizers aren't really that needed at all. Some argue that it does have an effect on the water quality, however, all a sterilizer does is kill bacteria. Not only does it kill bad bacteria, but also good bacteria which your aquarium really needs. If regular maintenance isn't performed on it (wiping the bulb) then it can turn into a heat trap.
Fish only with live rock tanks don't need much light at all. Fish don't care what kind of light you provide them, but corals and anemone's do. A shop light is generally a very good cheap alternative to a nice light. If you want a bunch of pink coralline algae to grow all over the back glass and on the rocks to make it aestetically pleasing, you need to upgrade to a better light such as PC lighting (2x96 watt) or VHO (2x110 watt) actinic light is really what coralline likes.

 

[snakeblitz33]

as far as other equipment goes, answering your question for the powerheads, you want at least 10x turnover rate for your 55gallon tank of internal flow. (not the flow coming from the skimmer and filter)
so for a 55gallon, you should have a minimum of 555 gallons per hour flowing through it.
Internal powerheads don't have any feet of headpressure pushing down on them, therefore you can go by the actual gph at 0 head.
Therefore, a maxijet 1200 pushes about 295gph at 0 head. Two of these powerheads would give you a lot of flow in the tank, however depending on how they are positioned, you may have a few dead spots. Dead spots are places where the flow does not go and detritus accumulates.
Add a smaller powerhead behind the rocks, like a maxijet 900.
Also, you may want to buy an additional maxijet 1200 to mix saltwater with and to do water changes with.
Besides just that equipment, you also need to consider buying a titanium heater, fish net, fish food, shrimp for fish supplement, extra filter cartridges, extra carbon for your emperor carbon insert.
If you don't want to buy a whole bunch of live rock, you should do half live rock, have base rock. This will cut down on a lot of your expense. The live rock in your system will eventually make the base rock into live rock. Meaning, that if you put base rock in your tank, eventually algae, bacteria, tube worms, coralline and a whole slew of microbiological life forms will accumulate on it.
Good luck and take it easy!

 

[ikemeyer]

You may want to check out the Aqua RemoraC for a protein skimmer. They cost a little bit more but personally I like the ease of maintenance and adjustment.