Coral,
I think most of us post in all sections. I know I do to try and help where I can. I'm not sure who rubbed you the wrong way and no matter. Ten weeks is not a definite time as to when you can add things to your tank. It is a rough estimate. Provided you have some sort of ammonia producing source to cycle your tank (dead shrimp, damsels...) there are two critical factors that you must observe to be successful and both require patience:
1. You must make sure your cycle is complete before adding anything to your tank other than what you are using to cycle. This means that you should see an ammonia spike which will be followed by a nitrite spike and then usually some nitrates. When you ammonia and nitrites are both 0, your tank should be cycled. This could take anywhere from a few days to a few months depending on how you do it.
2. When you do add livestock to your tank, you must add them slowly and in intervals. When your cycle is completed, you tank will be in equilibrium. In otherwords, there is only enough bacteria living that can be supported by the nitrogen cycle. When you add a fish, you have now added more ammonia which causes more bacteria to be produced. By adding things slowly, you give the bacteria time to catch and keep everything in control. If you add too much too fast, the bacteria will not reproduce fast enough to keep up with the added ammonia levels and you will see your ammonia rise in your tank because you have started a mini-cycle.
As far as your room for a lot of fish, I'm afraid you may be disappointed a bit. 55 gallons is a good sized aquarium, but saltwater fish have different rules than fresh water. There is not hard fast rule, but most people follow 1" of fish for every 5 gallons. For a 55, you can translate that to about 11" total for all of your fish. Also, some fish don't do well in certain tanks. Fish like tangs like to swim alot and usually need a larger tank. Some say minimum of 75 gallon and only 1 tang for that size.
Again, there are no laws carved in stone about what you can have in what sized tank, but common sense has to come into play. If you have too many fish, your fish will be stressed, sick and you will probably be fighting disease, high nitrates and maintaining water quality until the hobby is just not a lot of fun.
Hope that helps and enjoy the hobby,
Tangman