My Shopping List

For bulb arrangement, I would not put 1 of only 2 actinic bulbs in the back. To maximize the visual color appearance of your corals, you want the actinic bulbs near the middle / front of the tank, where the actinic light will be closer to your viewing point.

There's a much wider variety of T5 HO bulbs (54w) than just 10,000K and actinic. I'd seriously recommend reading the T5 Q&A thread on RC -- lots of bulb combination listings there. Here's the link to the most recent portion of it, as it is a very long thread and has been split many times (links are provided at the beginning / end to get to the other parts):
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1169341

If you go with retrofit kits, be aware that some individual T5 reflectors are slightly wider than others. That said, you may not be able to be fit 6 T5s in a canopy for a 75g (depending on the canopy's design), especially if you decide to use IceCap SLRs, which are in the upper range for width.
 
***UPDATED*** My Shopping List

Ok, I've been doing a lot of reading and visiting some the the highly recommended LFS in the ChicagoLand area. Some where a bit of a drive, but well worth it.

How is my updated list?

***UPDATED***

Light
48" 4x54W Tek 2 T5 High-Output Retrofit Kit w/ Bulbs

Bulbs Not sure about day/night schedule
2 54W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent
54W 10000K AquaSun T5 HO Fluorescent
54W Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent
Front
Blue Plus
Super Actinic
Middle
AquaSun
Blue Plus
Back (Future Plan)
??
??

PowerHead 2 for tank, 1 for mixing container
3 Hydor KORALIA 3

Salt
Reef Crystals - 160 gallon Salt Mix Bucket

Live Rock
Fuji Uncured (75lbs)

Base Rock
Fiji Base Rock (50lbs)

Water Testing
Refractometer

Skimmer
Aquamedic TurboFloter Multi

RO/DI Unit
OCEAN REEF + 1 FIVE STAGE 75 GPD RO/DI

MISC
Lunar Lights
Timer for day/nigh schedule
2 large rubber trash cans
Gloves
Sand
Overflow Box 700GPH - Lifereef.com
Pump - Not Sure Mag Drive 7 is a bit expensive
Etc.

Have Available from current FW tank
2 AC110's - Probably won't be needed
Master Test Kit
300w heater

Once I get everything going and working right, I plan on building a sump, probably out of a 20 or 29 gallon tank (depends on what will fit under my AGA Pine Stand). My tank is not drilled thus the reason for the overflow box. I'll then move my skimmer to the sump since it is a multi unit.
 
Yea, I was not sure about the color, so I asked ReefGeek and that is what he recommended. From looking at others tank, I like one with the purple tint the best. However, I've not see any of these bulb combos for my self.

How about the other equipment? I'm not trying to get the most expensive stuff, but I know now that cheap won't work either. I'm trying to find a happy middle that will work good as well.
 
I'm still trying to decided which Hydro powerheads I should get. I can't decide if I should get the 3's or 4's and how many. I'm thinking I should just put 1 on each side of the tank pointing at each other slightly off center. Or should I add a third one and have it on the back glass to create a T effect with the powerheads.

From keeping FW fish, I've noticed that my dead spots are usually the back corners. So I'm wondering:

1)Which powerhead should I get, 3's or 4's?
2)How many of the chosen powerhead should I get?
3)What should be the placement of the powerhead to maximize flow?

I'll be getting a MJ400 to do the mixing, I think that should be enough, correct me if I'm wrong?
 
I'd get 2 #4s for the 75g, but 2 #3s would still work
Either place them on the ends so they are pointed at one another, or on the back wall si they are pointed at the front glass

The MJ400 is pretty weak, I use a 1200 to mix.
 
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