I copy pasted this from a post I responded to where someone else asked basicaly the same question you did. I answered a few of his questions so I hope you can unscramble my response and gain some info from it. Cheers! Oh and also, do yourself a favor and save a huge headache and dont buy anything for atleast another month or two. Spend all the time you can doing research and have a very solid plan before starting. As everyone will say, "Anything worth doing in this hobby is worth doing slowly."
Firstly welcome to reef central and congrats on your new tank. The key to being sucessful in this hobby is to GO VERY SLOWLY. Research everything before you do it or buy it. Dont be scared to ask any questions.
I am very new to saltwater as well and have made many mistakes in starting up my tank. This has in the end cost me about $1,500 in wasted money. Heres a few things I highly suggest you look into and make decisions on before purchasing anything for your tank.
Mechanics
Firstly, what size of tank do you want to build?
Are you wanting to buy a glass or acrylic tank? Both has pros and cons.
Im assuming you are going to have a hood on the tank. How much space is in the hood for other equipment?
Do you intend on building a sump/refugium for your tank?
What skimmer do you want to purchase? There are some on the market that are great and some that are crap. Make sure to know before you buy. Also, dont skimp on this.
What type of lighting do you want to go with? Depending on the tank I would think that 4-6 VHO's would light it very nicely. However if you want to keep clams or very high light needy corals you may want to add a single or double Metal Halide system.
As far as powerheads go, how much flow do you want in your tank. People will tell you anywhere from 4x-60x the total water volume of your tank per hour. Put some thought into this, and realize that EVERYONE will tell you different. Look at the types of corals you want to keep and see what they require. Some will do best in slow currents, and some require very fast currents to thrive. IMHO I think that anywhere from 4x-10x is great.
As far as a heater goes, its not an absolute requirement because the pumps and lighting (if you get MH) will help heat your tank. I suggest getting 2 smaller ones as opposed to one larger one just incase one goes bad because when they go bad they have a tendancy to over heat so a huge heater overheating will cook your tank where as a smaller one will have a lesser effect.
As far as stuff like a hydrometer and thermomiter and stuff like that. Yes you will need to get this stuff, but dont forget about other stuff like test kits and any additives you need. As far as additives and test equipment go ask before buying. Some brands of test kits are more accurate than others, and some additives arent really necessary.
Livestock
As far as sand goes, most people will say to buy araganite sand. It seems to be widely used and the best for the application. Dont go buy "regular sand" from like home depot or something because it tends to be very dirty and contains unwanted metals and other materials. Some people will say that "quartz sand" aka "Silica sand" is good to use for tanks. However it has been proven that silica sand releases an unnaturaly high amount of soluable silica into the water thus promoting the growth of diatomes(which is a brown slime) so I would suggest against it. Something else to keep in mind is that the finer the sand, the less crap tends to get trapped in it. Using something like coral rubble is fine, but you will have to make sure you keep your tank very clean because junk tends to build up in a coral rubble substrate.. You can look more into "deep sand beds" while you surf the forums. Also, if you like animals that burrow in the sand they like fine sand from what I understand.
Yes you can get a few nice chunks of live rock, then use base rock to fill your tank. I did this and am very happy with the results. The base rock will become live after a few months or so. Just be sure that the base rock is very very clean before you put it in your tank. I used a pressure washer on mine and it hasnt been an issue.
Be sure to add fish slowly. You need to let your tank slowly get used to the added biomass that the fish will create.
Im assuming you want to keep corals. What kind? There are several different types such as SPS(small polup stony) LPS(Large polup stony) Softies, and Zoos. Each type generaly comes from diferent parts of the reef and has diferent lighting and flow requirements. It will make your life alot easier to choose one type to start with, then expand as you learn more.
Other thoughts
What process do you intend to use to cycle your system? There are many meathods out there and Im sure all of them work just the same however there are a few that are a little more fish friendly than others.
Before buying ANYTHING from your LFS be sure to shop around online. I have found that most if not all local fish stores prices are roughly double that of most online stores. Especialy when it comes to hardware.
I dont suggest buying a premade hood light. If you are crafty you can make a very nice wooden hood for your tank that will perfectly suit your needs, then purchase all of the items you need for the lighting system you want and build it yourself for the same price as buying one of the premade lighting systems and you will be alot happier with the results (well I was anyway) and it will give your tank a much more finished look to it.
Remember, go slow and ask lots of questions. People will be mroe than happy to provide you there $0.02
I hope this helps fuel some thoughts. Best of luck with your tank, Im sure youll love it as much as I love mine =D
