Some more good advice, to add to the great advice already given?
Don't trust anyone's advice if they have a financial stake in it. Your LFS is in biz to make money. They're also going to give you information that's 10-20 years out of date sometimes. My LFS doesn't even carry skimmers. Skimming is "new".
Go look at some aquariums after your research period and pay close attention to the plumbing and what not. Don't look at the fish and corals so much, but just what it's taking to opperate the tank. There's a lot going on under or behind it that you probably never paid much attention to.
You're not at the stage where you should be putting water or anything in, but you're close to it. When you do put in water, the first thing you're going to need to do is to be able to test it. When you're inexperienced, buy the best tests available... salivert is highly recommended here, and I agree. Those 5-in-1 test strips that the stores use are fine once you really understand how tanks react to stuff and can just look at a tank and have an idea what it's levels are. Right now, you need accurate tests so you can develop that skill. Later, you can use cheaper ones, and only rely on the more expensive tests for fine tuning. On the same line, get a refractometer rather than a density based hydrometer. You're going to get the refractometer at some point anyway when you get sick of the hydrometer.
