Brand new and more than a little confused.

[Joseph Elliott]

Hi my name is Joe and I am brand new to saltwater. I have freshwater planted set ups but was told to forget everything i know about freshwater since it doesn't convert over.

I am in the process of setting up a 50g reef but don't really know what I am doing. I added 60lbs of live sand and 23lbs of live rock. More rock to follow as I can afford it, ultimately i would like around 75lbs in the tank. Rock/sand and water all set up on the same day. Had salinity issues from following the directions on the salt pail, too high took 3 days of partial water changes (letting the salinity stablize between changes) to bring it down to 1.025.

For filtration I am running a xp3 canister filter.

For flow I have a Koralia that pushes 750g/h and is set up directly opposite to the canister's output.

Lighting is a homemade t5ho system that I used for fw plants on this tank 2 white bulbs and added an actinic bulb 39w each. I am more than willing to upgrade the lighting if needed to raise corals. Lights are not on at this time, was told to cure the live rock in darkness.

Heater is set to 78F.

Now here come the questions...

The system was set up on July 14th and the live rock is slowly turning white is this from die off?

Should I turn the lights on or keep it in darkness?

Reading here on the forums it seems that canister filters are frowned upon. Should I remove it and add a sump/refugium?

There are 2 types of fish I would like to keep at this time, Ocellaris Clowns and Blue Mandarin Dragonets. I realize the dragonets are not possible until I have a stable population of pods but I am trying to design with the future in mind.

Is there a limit to the number of corals that can be placed in the tank or is room the only limiting factor?

What are some of the best coral to start with? I really like zoas and mushrooms, as well as a few other I have seen pictures of but don't know the names.

Please feel free to put any info i need into this thread, I feel a little blind going into this.

Joe