New Tank recommendations

[scotikis]

I've been researching SW tanks for the past year (reading, reading reading) and I'm ready to set up my 1st SW tank. Here are the parameters that I've decided on - I'd appreciate some opinions.
FOWLR
125 Gallon rectangle (glass)
Refugium w/1000gph pump
125lbs Live Rock
UV sterilizer
2 heaters
Deep Sand Bed??
I've read some horror stories re: deep sand beds. My questions is - are the supposed benefits they offer worth the cost of potentially poisining the system? I really struggle with this one. My LFS guy (who I do trust) is a fan of this configuration.
Also, I've seen discussion re: power heads. One post recommended tank size x 20 as a minimum for water movement. Will my livestock suffer greatly without this?
I'm hoping that my patience to this point will be rewarded with success...please help me out. Thank you.

 

[lesleybird]

Make sure you get a reef ready tank with at least one overflow. The UV if for ich reduction/prevention should be a good one like the biggest of the three Coralife twisting ones with a very slow flow rate like 250 to 300 gallons per hour max. You need a good skimmer. Skip the deep sand bed if you do fish as the fish make too much waste to get trapped in there. For mainly a reef tank where there is not a lot of fish pooping then a deep sand bed might be ok. I use 1 and a half inches of the 1 to 2 mm. size agronite sand so I can still vacuum it up with my Phyton thing when I do my 20 percent water changes every two weeks. Two heaters is a good idea in case one gets stuck on then it takes longer to kill your tank, or if one is totally broken in the winter....hopefully two gives one more time to catch a problem before anything bad happens. Lesley

 

[scotikis]

Thanks for the feedback. The tank is reef ready with 2 overflows. I was led to believe that with the refugium filtration I shouldn't need a skimmer. Not true?