Need help setting up a 66 gallon cube.

[Tomknox47]

Hi everyone so I am about to pull the trigger with an sca pnp build. But I want to make sure I have everything before i start the build.
so far I have a salinity checker, rodi unit and a box of salt on the way.I heard the pnps aren’t terrible but the plumbing should definitely be swapped over to a hard plumbing style.
My questions are
1.) how do I know how man unions and valves and elbows do I need?
2.)Which wave makers or power heads would suffice for this build? I am on a budget and looking at cheaper more affordable options if possible.
3. Would 40-50 pounds of dry rock be enough? I don’t want want to over order on dry rock.
4.) any cheaper lights that would power this tank? Lol.

I have looked at all the build threads on this website, but everyone seems to have mp40s, kessil lights and all top of equipment for theirs builds . Anyone of any recommendations for someone that’s more on a budget? Thanks in advance.

 

[Potatohead]

What corals do you want to keep?

Nothing wrong with soft plumbing, in fact it's usually easier to deal with and quieter.

 

[Tomknox47]

What corals do you want to keep?

Nothing wrong with soft plumbing, in fact it's usually easier to deal with and quieter.

I guess I haven’t thought it out that far yet, I should mention that this is my first saltwater tank and I am a bit of a newbie here. So I would like to keep beginner easier corals. The only coral I like so far is the frogspawn coral not sure how difficult those are. The tank will be a fowlr tank for quite awhile until it is really established and then I’ll play around with corals

 

[Eleni18]

The jebao wave makers are quite cheap and good. Also maybe look at T5 lighting fixture instead of led?

 

[Potatohead]

I guess I haven’t thought it out that far yet, I should mention that this is my first saltwater tank and I am a bit of a newbie here. So I would like to keep beginner easier corals. The only coral I like so far is the frogspawn coral not sure how difficult those are. The tank will be a fowlr tank for quite awhile until it is really established and then I’ll play around with corals

The reason I ask is because it makes all the difference for the lighting. If you buy something like an AI Prime, that will get you going, and then down the road if you want to keep more light demanding corals, you can always buy another one or two and add them on, or add some T5's or whatever. With something like a frogspawn on that tank you would probably want two Primes, or even one Hydra 26 or something along those lines would be just fine. But for just fish, just about anything will be ok.

The same apples to flow, you can start small and just buy more if you need it. If it's fish only for now even a basic Hydor powerhead would be fine.