New to marine tanks, need some help...

[marvinsae]

so i use to collect fresh water fish but i stopped about five years ago. i've decided i want to start a marine tank and have been doing some research for about a week and this is what i have so far.

i plan on starting up a 65 gallon reef tank (i was advised a marine tank should be at least 18 inches thick) with a 40 gallon sump. in this sump i will have live rock, a protein skimmer, heater and a pump and all that. so i've been told i need about 20-40 gph per 1 gallon i have in my tank. so that would work out to be about 1300-2600 gph flow and i can add power heads to help boost this? would the sump, live rock in the tank, and live sand be sufficient enough for filtration? as i stated earlier i will also have a protein skimmer in the sump. all of thise equipment i will be buying second hand for about 250...but i dont think that includes lighting

also, with lightin i will need around 5 watts per gallon but more if i want to grow other corals such as clams. so i'm thinkin maybe 6x54w t-5 lights or 8x54w lights. metal halides are a bit too costly for me at the moment. my question is would 8x54 lights be too much or would 6x54 be sufficient to grow any coral i want?

now i know that when introducing new fish i shouldn't put too much in at once or else the ammonia level could be dangerous. but, what about reef janitors? do they effect the levels? what's a good set up for reef janitors? i'm intersted in starfish, blood shrimp, possibly some hermit crabs also. which are the safest that won't harm my coral?

is there anything else that i may be missing? i haven't been able to read up on much additives yet either. would someone be able to shed some light on that?

[marvinsae]

few other things...is salt water really corrosive to dry wall because im gonna be having it sit up against a wall maybe on laminate flooring

[Fishward]

You're on the right track.. keep reading and ask as many questions as you need to. lots of extremely helpful people on here.

I run a 6 bulb T5 and if you want some confirmation that it'll be enough for a 65 gallon tank, have a look at Fishytime's tank journal. he also runs 6 bulb T5s. unless you want to keep stuff below more that about 20 inches of water, 6 T5s above it is usually A-OK.

I wouldnt worry about the laminate floor or Drywalll, just make sure you have good ventilation in the room you have it in, and try not to spill water.

get a skimmer rated for at least 1.5 times your tank volume. and some sort of mechanical filtration (ie. filter sock) is a good idea so long as you can commit to cleaning it regularly.

supplements are a whole other question and just searching "calcium"" or "alkalinity" in the forums will get you lots of information. golden rule is: if you dont test for it, dont dose it.

[marvinsae]

awesome thanks for the quick reply...

so what exactly is a filter sock? like a canister filter?
and you were saying a skimmer rated 1.5 times the volume, now is that the 65gallons or the 65+40gallons

[Fishward]

filter sock is pretty much just a sock of some sort (some people use pantyhose)(official ones available at your LFS) that your tank drain will flow through in your sump. catches all the big chunks, fish poop, extra food, etc.

skimmer should be based on total water volume. so if you have a 65 gallon tank, 40 gal sump (25 gallons water) minus 10-15 gallons of space for rock, you'll want a skimmer rated for at least 80 gallons, 100 would be nice.

[MMAX]

Any type of livestock will effect your ammonia levels. Get yourself some snails for your clean up crew also.