Hello,
I set up my first salwater a couple months after my daughter was born 16 yrs ago.
In reality i am more concerned with the time ive had sucsessful systems.....the countless wasted hours plying pointless techniques and equipment becuase there was no real books nor discussion forums for us all to learn from then, it made for a lot of "hobbiest experience" with little true value, other than i could tell you exactly what NOT to do.
To further my experience, many inhabitants paid dearly then.
The first one had a pink skull, a green bridge, a mandarin goby (ill surely burn for that one) a feather duster and crushed coral trickle filter...oh yeah and a lee`s protien skimmer at some point there aswell....damn those sucked.
I just cringe when i see a pic of that tank....no you cant see it, id have to kill you after.
Melina, Take your time with the system, stock corals slow and fish even slower.
Dosing is probably the most troublesome thing ive seen in peoples early systems....Stick to your salt, determine system consumption before additives are bought and finally being moderatly stocked, dose or add needed equipment accordingly.
Water changes are soon forgot by way too many, and this will be ALL the additives you need initially...so some are doomed from the start as they think a bottle of iodide or some of these "magic" gro`s will work better here.
The most demanding and first consideration are likley going to be calcium and carbonate replenishment. (Ca)+(Alk/DKH/KH).
Marc.