rookie building new tank, many questions

Hello again, it's been over a decade since I've been on here. At that time I was building my first reef tank and getting lots of good advice from folks on here, I see Tangster is no longer around but he was an amazing help as were many others. Anyway prior to finishing that build I ended up getting engaged, moving across the state, having a kid, and life in general so that setup got sold before it saw water and has just been in my mind since. Now the wife and kid suddenly have the itch so I'm going forth again, and just picked up a good starter kit from someone else - it has been dry for 3 years - that was moving out of state. I have been reading many articles in this forum, as well as other books and videos, but I still have several questions. I hope I'm not being too redundant here and appreciate any help that can be provided with many more questions to come I'm sure.

What I have on hand - picked up a 55 gallon tank and metal stand, good amount (haven't weighed it yet) of rock structure, a heater, protein skimmer (hang on back style), a canister filter with three layers of mechanical filtration of various types (travelling at moment or I'd provide a photo), and a light that they said suffered from salt creep and it switches colors and turns itself on/off like it's possessed so I'm guessing that will need replaced.

My desires - build a wooden stand to add a 10 gallon sump/refugium and not have filters and skimmers and stuff hanging on the back of the tank. Build a tank that will contain a few fish, maybe 12" or so worth across 4 fish, soft corals, clean up crew, etc. Although I like the looks of hard corals as well if that requires a dramatic jump in price for lighting then it's a place I can save a few dollars and live without.

Here are my main questions for starters, so much info out there now that I've started to confuse myself with various opinions and from past experience I have a lot of faith in this group.

Water flow - The last tank I was building I drilled out and put a U shaped wall there with overflow, debating on whether to do that this time or if it's worth the trouble, if not what are other options to pull water down to a sump and back up? If you did a overflow wall would you do it in the back center (what I did before) or a corner, and how large would that need to be? How many/what power should I plan to have for powerheads within the tank?

Sump - any recommendations on DIY kits to put in a 10 gallon through the whole thing or full through skimmer and then from there split it with some to tank and a lower amount to slowly go through rest of sump? If I'm using a sump would I still use that canister filter or does that eliminate that need?

Lighting for tank - what would be needed for corals and fish in a 55? I know this won't be free (unless someone wants to help a 10 year old kid build his dream tank ) but I'm also not in a endless budget position here so I'm looking for bang for the buck.

lighting for sump - what's needed here?

Other items I should be considering for sump area?

Order and timing - Once the stand is built, rock ready, and plumbing in place what is my order for cycling, starting lights, starting various filtration, and starting fish/corals? I plan to cycle it without fish and get them in afterward but otherwise I'm unclear on timing and order of the steps to get to that point.

One last bit if it's helpful - I live in a rural area and the nearest LFS is over two hours away which is Petco. a non-chain shop the nearest is over 4 hours away so much of this will need to be done by internet order unfortunately.

 

So evidently this page has really dropped off in activity?