introduction and looking to make sure im headed in the right direction!

[lurchone]

Hello everyone! Trying to get started in the salt water hobby and figured I should start asking questions before I start spending money! I've kept freshwater fish for about 2 years now and currently have a 50 gallon planted tank that is doing quite well and recently obtained a 70 gallon tall tank from a friend. I think I have a basic plan in mind for it but I'd like to make sure I'm headed in the right direction.

The tank itself is 36" long by 15" wide by 30" deep.

Planning on 70-80lbs of live rock
Live sand (not sure how much?)
2 powerheads (on opposing sides one at top of tank and one at bottom)

Would like to do a HOB overflow to a 20 gallon sump if I can fit it in the budget

Lighting is probably going to be metal halide (not sure of wattage since its such a deep tank)

Stocking plans are a snowflake eel, soft corals, and maybe a clam
Any suggestions on this would be awesome!

So that's kind of what I have in my head right now so any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[Wings672]

i currently have a 24 inch snoflake with soft corals in a 55 gallon with some other fish. Im surrently switching everything over to a 150 gallon except the soft corals. The only thing i would reccomend make sure theres enough substrate in the tank for your eel to dig otherwise he could get pretty stressed out. they do make a mess tho with their digging. i have a PVC setup in my new tank under the sand and hopefully that will help with him destroying the tanks landscape.

[Crusinjimbo]

I would drill the tank for a Herbie drain and sump to eliminate the overflow. The 15" depth will make aquascaping difficult considering you must leave glass cleaning space so plan well and make the structure solid. No mention of a skimmer or ATO or heater but you will need theme as well. Good luck!

[wrott]

MH gets very hot, a fan/chiller w/ controller would need to be considered. LED would be the way to go, but is expensive. You can run a tank w/out a sump or skimmer if you're not doing hard corals, but then you would not need MH lighting. T5 lighting (4 tubes) would sustain softies and probably a low light clam, but you would still need to control heat issues to a lesser extent. A mount-on fan w/ controller for light timing and heater/fan would work. Controllers are expensive, but are the best piece of equipment to have. First decide if you want a sump/skimmer, and drilling would eliminate the fear of HOB siphon failure. Make sure the glass is not tempered, and if possible find someone who has drilled an aquarium a few times to help you--or practice on some scrap glass or an old tank. Sounds like it's going to be a nice tank!