New Tank

I would use gravel and a 4' flour lt with an aqua glo or power glo bulb. As for filters I would use two hydro 3 sponges hooked up to two Maxi Jet power heads. If you plan to vac your gravel once a week this should do fine. If you don't vac your gravel often then you might want to go with a cannister or HOB type filter. Alot of people will argue with might type of filtration, but I wasn't scared to switch to a simple, easy to clean type filter which is very effective and cheap in price.

By top cover I'm guessing you mean a wooden canopy? For filtration on a 55g I'd go with a cannister filter myself. Something like a Fluval 404 should work nicely. The rest of your set up needs some additional planning.

First off have you read up about cycling? Check the stickies on the top of the newbie forum for more information there. Do you want a planted tank? If you want plants that will effect how much lighting you will need and can also effect what you use as substrate (gravel and such). Another factor is what sort of tank are you wanting to set up? If you want a community tank a nice planted tank with some rock structures and / or bogwood would probably be the way to go. If you want to try out african cichlids then you will probably want sand or possibly crushed coral substrate and plenty of rock structure without any plants.

My preference on a first tank would be a moderatly planted community tank. You can buy a simple glass top for the tank along with a light fixture in the 80 to 100 watt or so range. Above that and prices tend to go way up IMHO. With that amount of lighting you would have several types of plants to choose from. As for fish I would look at one or two small schooling types such as several of the tetra species or harlequin raspborra. By a small school I mean 5 to 8 fish. I'd also add about 4 to 6 corys. On top of that I'd look into a couple of other fish such as dwarf gourami, german rams, bolivian rams, or even african butterfly cichlid. A mated pair of german rams can be a real nice sight in a tank.

When shopping around don't forget to check out bigalsonline.com . Lastly don't be afraid to ask for advise. Preferably on this forum until you find a trustworth LFS.

I would look at something showy for a fish species, a large tank like that and I would pick like said the african chiclids, or angels, or a few small schools of barbs, like the tigers and golden barbs. They are pretty and active and showy in the colors they show off. I would use a penguin or whisper filter, gravel, and an all glass cover? with a flourscent lamp on it.

The people here can help with any questions you may have and suggestions to fish to keep etc.