quick story and a few questions...

I am about 1 year into the hobby. I saw my dads 120 and how great it looked and decided to jump in. I bought a 55 gal. and over a 6 month period I obtained live sand true perc. anemone coral beautiful and maybe a few others. Well about six months ago my dad was working so much he wanted to sell his tank for $500.00 and needless to say I jumped on it. Well now I am kind of in a hard spot. I went from a basic lighting FO 55 gal. tank to a HUGE tank with a coralife compact lighting setup that I was told would support any kind of life I put in there..... I have added a few soft coral and now I am starting to hear different stories on lighting and there is a new LED sweep taking over also he has a bioballs filter setup witch I have found to be a nitrate factory so I planned on making a refugium BUT, I hear there is a HOB item that blows a refuge away. :-/ I want to go in the dirrection of a reef aquarium but I feel belittled by all the knowledge I lack in this area. Don't get me wrong I have been researching but wow is there a LOt to research lol. I love this hobby but I need help and opinions!!!! I have a few pics of my tank and corals in my profile and I have added 60lbs of LR what would you do? will my lighting work or will it only work for certain life? what are some of the things you would do if you acquired this tank? Anything would help and I am very open minded to suggestions SORRY FOR THE EXTREMELY LARGE POST AND THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR TIME AND SHARED KNOWLEDGE ;D

 

I would remove the bio-balls and design a refugium with a possible deep sand bed. The lighting will work but that is also dependent on how far away, the lighting fixture is from the sandbed, and what your long term goal is for this tank, I would however plan on updating the fixture sometime in the future. Have fun with the new tank is sounds awesome

 

awesome

+1^
Thank you for the advice I really appreciate it!!
I have a 40 long I am going to turn into a refug.
I am planning on making three equally sized compartments with
the middle being the sandbed, algae, and critters etc....
how high should I keep the light above the water?

 

Keep the fixture as close as it will to the water, their penetration power is weak. If you have the resources LED is the way to go on lighting. We have a couple of sponsors you should check with if you want to use LED. Before you change lights though you will want to figure out what types of light needing animals you wish to keep and then tailor your light to their needs.