seaduck,
Current is very important in a reef tank. More so than any other marine tank by far. Corals cannot move when they want (at least most cannot, and the ones that can cannot move fast at all - days to move an inch) and they rely on you to maintain the ideal conditions for them to thrive. They rely on the current of the water column to bring them food and whisk away waste. "Dead spots", as they are known, can allow waste to build up in a localized area and break down polluting the water in the tank among other things.
Most reef tanks strive for a turnover rate of at least 10x.
Turnover Rate, for the uninformed reading this post, is a term referring to the amount of times that the entire volume of the tank is moved out of, and back into the system (regardless of whether it is filtered or not) creating a moving current. A
10x Turnover for a 55 gallon tank means that the system moves 550 gallons of water every hour out of and back into the tank. My own tank pumps 700gph through my 55g tank which would equate to roughly 13x per hour. But I digress...
The higher the turnover for your tank the better your corals will do, and the more lively your fish will be. Most people who can't achieve 10x turnover with their current filter will either make use of a powerhead(s), or they will build a Closed Loop system. This is basically just a pump that has a pipe running into the tank from either port (in/out) and only serves to move water from one end of the tank to the other quickly. They can also be fitted with wave making devices to alternate the current to both ends of the tank.
The answer to your question is, No, the HOB filter will not be able to move enough water for your corals, and I would suggest implementing one of the above mentioned solutions to increase the current in the tank.
A general suggestion for the amount of LR to keep in any tank is 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. per every gallon of water. Of course this is just with efficiency of biological filtration in mind. If you choose to go more with mechanical filtration than natural then the choice becomes purely asthetic, as much LR as you think looks good.
jkilmer83,
If you choose to use artificial (mechanical) means to filter your water then your choices will do fine. A skimmer is beneficial to any tank, and a wet/dry is basically the same thing as the old HOB whisper filters from our beginning FW days of yore but on a larger scale. The efficiency of any filter that uses padding and resins to filter the water of impurities is solely dependant upon the individual aquarist's ability to change out the filter media regularly.
If you just let everything accumulate on the filter media without changing it out then you are only damming up the waste in the one spot where every bit of water in the aquarium is going to pass through it. (kinda like someone farting in the elevator
)
There are several threads in the SW Forum where I have discussed the subject of filtration with others. Read through a few of these and see if they give you any ideas. If not then we can start up another thread to discuss the various kinds of filtration available.
You make a good point on the lighting tip, lighting (which includes the cost of replacement bulbs and accessories) is one of the 3 top costs associated with reef aquariums rivaled only by filtration (which IMO/IME includes the cost of pumps, filters, skimmers, sand, rock, etc.) in most systems. It only makes sense when you consider the fact that the most important aspects of a reef tank are water quality and lighting.
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