From my experience and reading, you want to cycle your tank at least 10-15 times per hour. So you need a pump that does 700 - 1000 gph at a 4' head height. I've had problems with the impeller cover on the mag pumps sticking although there are a lot of people out there who have had no problems. I am putting on one of the new rio hyperflow pumps on my new tank in October; they are quiet and are better than the origanal rio's. The size of pump you need is a 14HF or a 17HF. Whatever you do make sure that the fittings coming off the pump will fit standard PVC fittings.
As for salt type, go with Formula or Seachem. Avoid Instant Ocean unless you are doing a fish only. They cheap out on there carbonates and give you mainly bicarbonate, you will most likely have pH problems and odd growth patterns with long term use.
Use aragonite not crushed coral as it is basicaly the same stuff but aragonite is not destructive to the environment. Unless you go with live sand all aragonite is the same no matter which brand you go with. Saltwater connection brand is the cheapest that I have seen locally by about $4-6 per 30lbs bag.
For sump size, I have always been told that you want the volume to be 1/3 the volume of your main tank (24 gallon in your case). If you want a refuge you need larger to accomadate the water volume that will be drained by a power outage. Keep in mind that on a 72 bow you cannot go wider than about a 12" wide sump because your stand curves in at the edges. I avoided this by using two small tanks that were drilled on the sides and connected them with a pipe. It is similar to what Aquarium Illusions is using on their new frag tank.
To be sure of sump size as far as equipment goes, go to a store that sells your brand of pump, skimmer and other toys and put all of the equip inside of it to see if it fits. I did this at AI and chose to connect 2 10gallon sumps (one a refuge) a G1 skimmer (rated to 100 gallons) and a rio 17HF pump.
Good luck
Rick
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