do you ahve salt? not sodium chloride, salt water from the LFS, Istant ocean and Oceanic are good brands, ok fill up the tank with RO/DI water!!! NOT TAP!! dont use tap! EVERY!
ro/di can be bought at the grocery store local fish store, let the tank sit for a day with just the water, go to your pet store and buy LIVE ROCK, live rock is full of bacteria and microfuan that filters the tank, for a good tank, usualy 1 pound of LIVE ROCK per gallon is good, you dont need it all.
DONT BUY FISH!!!
while your at the LFS(local fish store) buy a book called "Conscientious Marine Aquarist" YoU WILL THANK ME FOR THIS BOOK!!!! this book will get you going
There is a thing called "cycle" this is where you break the water into the tank, making it sutible for fish a cycle takes month, or more, you shoudlnt add fish for another month after cycle.
there is so much to this hobby, i cant type it in one day, let along a month, but that book WILL get you started!!!!
Lighting depends on what kind of reef you want, some corals need more light then others, some also need cleaner tanks, more flow, older tanks, and water quality.
i wouldnt get a reef for a few months ( actualy a while, more then 4-5 months!)
GET THAT BOOK and READ and ASK QUESTIONS on this site, these PEOPLE will HELP you, and for the love of god, pklease dont buy ana anemone until you knwo what your doing, anemones need alot more light, and very clean waters, a class of corals called "soft corals" are beginner corals that are easy, but READ READ READ ask READ..
i canot stress that enough, this is a very expensive hobby.
oh, and never listren to Lionfish12 (you will see what we mean)
welcome to our family,,,,