returning to the hobby

[Jaten]

After being out of the hobby for about 3 years, I'm trying to get back in the saddle, (or should that be "back in the swim of things"?) From '89 - '98 I successfully kept a 75 gal. FO that ran on a wet/dry and a protein skimmer. I was hooked eventhough I constantly fought red slime. In '93-'94 I purchased a drilled 150 gal., a Biozone Platinum 10 trickle filter (Albert Thiel's filter), Iwaki 55 RLT, and VHO 60" lighting, a couple of 250 watt Ebo Jager's, and various misc. (powerheads, etc.) Life got busy, and I never started up my "dream tank" The 150 sat in its stand gathing dust while I stayed busy with the 75 gal., until I gave up the 75 in '98 when I moved. I moved the empty 150 complete with its gorgeous custom-made stand with me, knowing that one day I'd jump right back into the wonderful world of marine. That day has arrived! I've spent the last several weeks reading everything I could get my hands on, and am waiting for a couple of books to arrive from Amazon.com.
Question: I know that I want to make the 150 a reef tank. I also know that I don't want to use the $$$ trickle filter I once thought I couldn't live without. I think I can use the sump and just remove the biomedia from the tower. The sump is 32" x 14" x 23" (45 gal.) Any thoughts on how to make the best use of what I have would be greatly appreciated. Also, the tank is 60 long x 20 wide x 24 high will VHO(Coralife 2- 7100K actinic, 1 6500K trichromatic, 1 10,000K daylight) lighting work with most corals? clams if they're kept at a higher elevation?
Thanks in advance for all suggestions, hints, and tips!

[hughem]

I also "retired" for a couple of years (while my tank grew caulerpa and went "sewie hole"). Things changed a lot in that time.

The word today is DSB - "deep sand bed". That will provide the bulk of your filtration.

Although there is a substantial "skimmerless" contingent, I think skimmers are a good idea based on what mine removes. I'd start with whatever skimmer you have.

Yes, the old sump will do fine. The sump only needs to be large enough to keep the pump and skimmer running smoothly and hold water from the plumbing in a powerdown.

That 75 gallon tank would make a killer refugium! Secondary deep sand bed, macro algae growout, and the increased water volume you don't put in the sump.

Save the $$$ trickle filter for your quarantine/hospital tank.

Lighting: In a 24" deep tank, you either need 400watt Metal Halide, or the newer HQI stuff. VHO is fine for actinic suplementation and dawn/dusk simulation but probably won't cut it as your main source if you intend to run a reef; especially with clams. As far as I know, clams like to be on the sand (I don't have any myself).

Allow me to plug something that has been very helpful to me -- AquaController. The Neptune AquaController II is less $$$ than buying all its features separately. Connected to a computer, it is easy to program and the data is fun and informative.