Need advice for new 55g reef

Starting a 55g cube reef (30" across, 18" deep, and 24" tall). Thinking about starting with ~2" of live sand and ~ 25 lbs of live rock. The stand is too small for a sump so I'm going with HOB skimmer. Several questions: what does everyone think about the Reef Octopus that has a built in filter chamber for carbon (BH100F). Also, should I be buying a skimmer that is rated 2x the tank size? How about power heads.... How many heads and what flow rates should I be looking for? And do I need the carbon if I'm using a high quality skimmer? Looking forward to everyone's advice! Thanks in advance.

 

I would go with 2 power heads the ones rated for a 50 gal should work fine,a skimmer that's 2x the tank size....if by that you mean bigger than what your tank should get I would say no,try to keep everything to proportion with your aquariums size and needs

I hope this helps some

 

Sure does. Thanks

 

A skimmer rated for 1.5 times your system should be fine and is probably best since many companies rate thier skimmers with a light bioload as the basis of thier ratings.

If it were me I'd build a better/bigger stand and get a sump.

 

+1 bigger stand and bigger in sump skimmer. mines a extreme 200 on 115g volume with 8x return turnover and two sicce 1600gph power heads in 75g DT