Setting up 55 gallon reef Suggestions Welcome

[jdogg2432]

I recently upgraded from a 55 gallon to a 210 FOWLR, and would like to turn my 55 into a reef only. Any suggestions or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Lighting: I had PC's on my 55 before, but found that I was rather limited on what I could put in there. I would like to have the ability to put in a wide variety of corals. Metal Halides & PC's or Metal Halides & VHO's? What brands to use? How many & how many watts? What types of ballasts?
Water Movement: Should I use a wavemaker? How many powerheads? Placement?
Filtration: After much research it sounds like a refugium is the way to go. How big would mine have to be? Lighting? Would like to have everything under the cabinet so it looks clean. What type of plants, sandbed, etc.

 

[reefer44]

Well i have a 55 gallon and it has 2 175 watt corallife metal halides over it (I can keep basically any coral)
I would suggest keeping the bioload low and get alot of corals
my tanks has
sabae clown and sabae anenome
yellow tang
banggia cardinal
2 serpant stars
one pepperment shrimp
a clam
anenome crab (on this sight called white anenome crab)
the waste these fish produce is pretty minimal
I have a 15 (3 inch sand bed with several caulerpa growing)gallon fuge to grow food for fish and a little nutrient export
I have 3 power heads but would suggest 4 (2 on each side) these give me areas of minamal flow and fast flow
I have a small pr0tien skimmer
emperor 300 by marine land (mechanical filteration helps keep detrus down)
the corals i keep are:
torch
elegance
several polyps
finger leathers
brain corals
star polyps
several dif. acropora (wait a few years before getting)
birds nest coral
poricliporra
just a few ideas on were to get started
BRad

 

[jdogg2432]

Thanks for the help!!! Any more suggestions anyone?

 

[dana&pj]

I have what most people consider to be way too much rock - and I love it. I almost never have water quality problems and I have often exceeded the 10 gal per fish rule. I really think it's the extra rock.
In my last tank I ran the whole thing without ever doing water changes and rarely had a loss, but this was after it had been running for about 3 years and I didn't mess with the environment much either - it had a balance so I mostly just fed the fish - and only about every 3 days.
At that time I had 8 small fish in a 45 gal with about 100 lbs of rock. I ran the whole thing with a fluval and a skimmer. No sand, but I would change that to LS now. Power compacts - but I don't remimber the wattage.
The person who gave me this tank well after it had been established had worked in a LFS in California, and swears the reason it was so maintenance free was the rock. I don't know how else to explain it.
It was a beautiful healthy tank - until there was an earthquake and the power was out for days.
In my new tank I set it up very much like the las one 2 pounds of LR or LS per gal of water. My new tank is doing very well too. I had shorter than average cycle times and was able to add things faster than I should have without so much as a water quality hiccup. I admittedly don't know very much about this hobby, but I really think the extra rock helps when I screw up.
Rock is expensive, but not near as expensive as lost livestock.

 

[kpk]

Let me just say the basics. Refugium, protein skimmer, closed loop instead of alot of powerheads, and halide/vhos. I have a wavemaker and it is slowly but surely wearing out my ph's and a pain to mess with, and also cut cost and heat in the tank. Euro-reef skimmer if you have the cash...