Help with New Tank

[fishywoman]

Here's my story. I plan on starting my eventual reef tank and have been reading up for the past few months on the internet. Well I recently won my tank on ebay.. it's a 110 gallon reef ready amiracle hex with stand, plumbing, plastic sump, heater, DIY light shield and live sand. I want to go with 6" DSB so the bottom is easier to reach.
Here are my questions...
Lighting... MH or VHO? The DIY light stand hangs from the ceiling and had contained MH's. Will I have to get a new one if I go VHO? What wattage do I need?
Filtration... Is the sump with a skimmer enough? I've read about the berlin and wet/dry, etc and I'm so confused and what is the best way to go. Take in mind I am a total beginner at this and would like the ease of use to be the top priority. I would like to have about 125 lbs of live rock in the tank at one point in time but it probably won't happen from the start.
Refugium.... yes? no? where in the tank does it go?
I guess that's it for now. Thanks for the help!!

 

[steve-s]

First off, welcome to AquariumAdvice.com...

Here are my questions...
Lighting... MH or VHO? The DIY light stand hangs from the ceiling and had contained MH's. Will I have to get a new one if I go VHO? What wattage do I need?

If a reef tank is your eventual goal and you already have the necessary equip for the MH, I would suggest sticking with that or was it just the hood?
Even still, with a hex tank your best success will come from a more powerful light source and VHO will not really cut it. It will also really depend on the depth of the tank and types of corals you wish to keep. What are the tank dimensions? L"W"H"?

Filtration... Is the sump with a skimmer enough? I've read about the berlin and wet/dry, etc and I'm so confused and what is the best way to go.

With a DSB you will not have a berlin system. It will be a DSB system primarily.

I would like to have about 125 lbs of live rock in the tank at one point in time but it probably won't happen from the start.

Even with the possible DSB, I would suggest much more LR or possibley some base rock on the bottom. If you where to purchase about 60 lbs of base rock and place your LR on top, that would add to the total filtration or possibley add some to the sump if you don't like the look of all the rock. >>Hi Rocks<< is an excellent source for base rock. $80.00 for a 60 lb box which includes shipping.

Refugium.... yes? no? where in the tank does it go?

Not absolutely necessary in the beginning but something you could eventually look into. They are a great source of natural filtration when using macro algaes or possibley mangroves. For a 120 gal tank though, you would not want an "in tank" type but rather a seperate smaller tank plummed off the main tank or the sump. There are also some varieties of hang on refugiums that may fit your needs although they can be pricey.

Cheers
Steve