I heavily considered going with a cube over a normal tank. In fact, i almost bought a cube a few weeks ago. But in the end, i'm going to go with a standard tank pre-drilled to be reef ready.
Primary reasons why i don't want to go with a nano cube are,
1) I want a sump to hide the equipment underneath my display tank, grow pods and skim the water (not that you couldn't add a sump to a cube, but it's not set up to do so). With a RR aquarium, all i need is a tank to put below.
2) I'm not a fan of mechanical filtration in these types of tanks (opinion based on research, not experience). My understanding is that nano cubes rely on fairly substantial water changes in order to get the gunk out of the water. I'm a fan of water changes for ion replentishment, but not a substitute for skimming. Hang on the back skimmers are unsightly and the small ones built to go into the back space of a nano-cube are garbage. Which brings me back to point 1 (the need for a sump).
As for steps to set up a tank, i'd google that. I could write up the results of what i've researched (again, all based on reading, not based on experience) but not till i get home.
There are excellent step by step reef tank start up articles. Off the top of my head, there's one on the Yahoo "about" site as well as a decent one on the doctor foster's and smith site.
They aren't perfect guides, but they're pretty good places to start. From there, just read stuff on the net until your eyes bleed and you'll have a pretty good idea of what you should be doing and in what order.
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