Given a used tank. Need advice.

[Gatorfreak]

Someone gave me a used 90 gallon SW setup. It has a hood with 2x175W (MH?) , 10,000k bulbs. It also has cooling fans built into the hood.
It has the overflow section in the corner of the tank with 2 tubes coming out of the bottom of the tank and a sump. My first question is about the lighting. Will that be sufficient? I want to do a reef tank (live rock). I probably won't try corals for a while. Will I need more lighting to add corals later on? About the filtration, in that overflow section in the corner are some plastic balls like in the wet/dry filters. I've read many people here say not to use wet/dry so I guess I should just removed those balls? It didn't come with a skimmer but I plan to get one.

I just got the setup and haven't started messing with everything yet. I'm going to set everything up in the garage first to make sure there are no leaks and because I figure I'll make a mess as I learn how to setup the sump and all. I've had a number of FW tanks before but this is my first SW.

 

[Atari]

Wow, congratulations.. I wish someone would just give me a 90 gal setup!

The lighting sounds fine to me.. you should be good to go full reef when the time comes. The only addition you might consider is a couple actinic tubes to suppliment the halides. They can be used for a dawn/dusk effect and will also bring out the spectacular fluorescence of certain species.

Take your time and have fun playing around with it!

 

[Gatorfreak]

Another question about starting it up. Here's what I'm thinking:
LR from liverocks.com: 20 lbs Keys, 20 lbs Gulf, 80 lbs base.
I'm about 2 hours from where LiveRocks.com is located so I plan to pick it up and save on shipping. Total for all that is about $340.

DSB: 120 lbs (2" bed according to calculator) of the HomeDepot sand (southdown or old castle)

From all I've read, I'm under the impression that once I get everything running with the water/pumps, that I can just put in the rocks how I want and then pour the sand in? Then let it cycle without light? (Add a shrimp or two to get the cycling going?)
Almost sounds too easy.

 

[Gatorfreak]

Thought I'd post this tidbit I found in my incessant reading of the forums. You can get base rock really cheap from hirocks.com. 60 lbs for $80 (shipped). So I think I'll get my base from there, lowering the price by about $70.
Also, given how cheap the HomeDepot sand is, I may do a deeper bed (maybe 3").

 

[nyghtone]

I'm jealous beyong belief of yall who can get south down sand, the hardware stores in my areas don't even know what I'm talking about

Joshua...

 

[Gatorfreak]

I have some classifieds in my area selling fish tanks that have LR in them. Should I consider buying their LR if I can get it real cheap?

 

[darb2]

find out if the tanks in the adds have ever had copper dosed in them. If they have then you couldnt go full reef.