Well, the wet/dry filter is very similar to a sump in that both are tanks below the display tank. Their differences are in the biology that both use to produce a filtering effect of lowering nitrate. The wet/dry filter cultures certain bacteria that like to live in the specific areas that the wet/dry filter provides. The trick is to get the flow just perfect and spread just-so which gets harder the longer the filter is in operation; holes tend to build up with gunk and flowrates slow down and the trickling becomes less effective. Also trickle filters sound like someone is peeing all the time which gets old fast...
A sump with a skimmer and refugium in the classic "Berlin" uses the mechanical action of the skimmer to remove the precursors of nitrate and phosphate and the biological value of growing plants to remove any nitrates and phosphates that the skimmer misses. It's a little more fire and forget if you will.
The drain from the display to the sump is the big challenge here. The tank itself can be just any standard aquarium that fits in the stand. With a standard 75g display made here in the US the bottom will be tempered leaving you with two styles of overflow; "Calfo" overflow which involves drilling the back of the tank and installing a box inside the tank to keep snails away from the holes you drill and preventing clogging. Bulkhead fittings are installed in the drilled holes and then pipes are attached to them to drain water to the sump. A return pump in the sump pushes it back up. A google search for Calfo overflow will provide plenty of hits and instructions
. Your other option is to use an "Overflow Box". Many online retailers sell them, if I may reccomend the models from CPR. I'm personally not a fan of overflow boxes but they work. Again a return pump would be used to push water back to the tank, always with a checkvalve in the line.
The parts for this endeavor aren't all that expensive, it's just the labor and know-how. Drilling is really easy. Maybe it seems useless coming from an experienced aquarist, but it really is easy. It sounds impossible to drill holes in glass but if you just get the right drill bit it works great.
I'll pm you some links to some pennsylvania reef clubs, maybe one or the other is near you
