light and skimmer suggestions?

[Cahooligan]

ok so far the skimmer im thinking is the"Reef Octopus 8 (250 Gallon) In Sump Pinwheel Protein Skimmer w/ Bubble Plate" which is $280. i know its a good skimmer, but i think im overshooting size-wise just a bit. the tank will be a 125g fowlr that will be somewhat lightly stocked. does anyone have any suggestions of a good skimmer thats a bit cheaper thatll work good as well? there is an octupus 150g skimmer thats significantly less money but i dont know if itll do the job...would anyone know? thanks. (ill also have a refugium in the sump)

also, im looking for a light of some kind. it only needs to be able to support live rock and sand. its a 6ft tank so probably 2 3ft lights on the same timer will be the cheapest. does anyone have any suggestions for this as well?
im looking to cut costs as much as possible.

i have all other equipment lying around so im looking to be able to complete this tank for only a few hundred dollars before stocking, liverock, and all of the small purchases. any input is appreciated. thanks

[DoubleM 10]

i dont understand why you would wanna do it with the cheap stuff?? you will just spend it in the long run anyway.

i have a reefdynamics INS-80 which is rated the same as the one you are looking at and its cheaper

also about the lights i would just get 2 of the coral life lights if you want to go cheap. but thats just me.

i have and just ordered another aquaticlife 4 lamp T5HO light and they are great cant say enough about hem

matt

[viggen]

If you want cheaper I would look through the classifieds & get something used........

Same with lighting, find used stuff & go that route

Also, if you are on a tight budget why not skip the LR & go the wet/dry route. If you want fish & only fish it works great.

[Cahooligan]

Thanks. Yea I understand about the cheap route causing more money later haha I have 2 reefs and have had just about every problem out there haha my light fixture on my main display just broke(only a few days after the warranty expired) and now I'm stuck with much less light than I need...but anyway I'm not looking to cheap out on stuff, nor do I want to buy something used. It just seems like power compact and t5 fixtures are a few hundred bucks, and I don't really need the light they produce for a fowlr tank. I want to have liverock to add as much filtration as possible and I'm not buying a much, only enough to seed the hundred+ pounds of baserock I already have. As for the skimmer, its rated for 250gallons and I'm not sure I need quite that much. I'm not going to buy a bad skimmer just because its cheap. Id rather have the octopus, but if I don't need something that powerful then why bother.