The cycle will probably take 4-6 weeks to complete. Do you have ammonia and nitrite test kits? If not, you'll need them. I would also get nitrate, calcium, alkalinity, and pH kits. Calcium and
alk are not as important in a
FOWLR tank as a reef, but it's something you'll want to keep balanced as the tank matures. Your tank will experience an ammonia spike followed by a spike in nitrites. After the nitrites have died down, you can start adding some cleanup critters...snails, hermits, ect... Echinoderms (starfish) are sensitive to water quality and should not be added until the tank is stable. Are you using
RO/
DI water or tap water? You need to be using the
RO...tap water has too many things in it that can cause you problems. Is the
LR you have cured (bet you didn't know it was sick did you
)? What I mean is did it come straight from the tanks at the
LFS? If so, you may need to add some ammonia to get the cycle started. Go to the home page here and click the link on the left side "articles". Read the one on fishless cycling. Then read the one on the Berlin method of filtration. Also, read the one on the nitrogen cycle...I think that one is
FW, but it's the same theory for
SW or
FW.
For the lighting, I don't know of a full hood that has the lights already in it. You can buy/build a wooden hood and put a retro kit in it. You might want to check out the Custom Sealife Smartlites at
www.championlighting.com . One 65w
PC would be a huge improvement in your lighting. You could get by with 2x20w NO tubes, but that would be minimum
IMO. You can get twin bulb strip lights that house two 20w bulbs...not much cheaper than the CS Smartlite though.
The one most important thing to remember is that NOTHING good happens fast in a
SW tank. You have to be very patient and let nature do its thing. If you get impatient and add fish/inverts too soon, you are condemning them to death. The best suggestion I can make to you at this point is to get a copy of "The Concientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert M. Fenner. This will give you all the basic info you need to get started right. That book is worth its weight in dollar bills easily. Don't be discouraged by the waiting...we've all been there...it's worth it. One last thing on the lighting...you can use the light you have as long as you 1) Don't expect a lot of coraline growth...you will have some. 2) Don't add any photosynthetic inverts...they'll probably die.
JMHO