Newbie looking for opinions

[radarfixer]

Hello all and I send my compliments on this very informative board!
I just recently retired from the military and settled in Norman OK. The other day my wife made the statement "that an aquarium would look good in that spot"! The hair stood up on my neck; the heart started pumping at an accelerated rate... yes I have a bad case of reef fever again.
It's been 3 years since we last set up our 55 & 30 gal tanks as mini reefs, but we always had the problem of knowing that we were could move any day, thus the tanks weren't set up for the long haul. Now that we have retired and have "stable" living conditions, I want to set up a long-term reef system, and move up to a single bigger tank that will house both fish and inverts.
It's been at least 7 years since I had priced aquariums, filters, lights, salt mix, LR, etc. and my initial visit to the LFS sent me into wallet shock. I am concerned about making "uninformed decisions".
So, to the very knowledgeable members of the board, if you could set up a new system today, what equipment would you purchase? Thanks for any info that you can provide.

 

[jarre]

Welcome Radar!! I truely understand the military way of life and wouldn't have even tried a reef because of all the moving. I'm fairly new to the hobby and therefore have limited knowledge. These guys have been a fantastic source of information and have always given great suggestions.
I think the first question we all would need is what size tank are you looking to get. From there what corals and fish are you planning on keeping. These two factors alone can vary the answers you'll get widely!!
Good luck and enjoy. Oh, and hurry while the wife will let you keep the fever!!!!

 

[almarktool]

Radar,
Welcome to the board , feel free to fire away with questions
I would first measure out a floor print of what size tank would fit where u are thinking, then i would decide on tank size relitive to space allocated, at which point i would post back here so we could further help u address your questions. in the meantime i would highly recommed getting the book by bob fenner , the consiensist marine aquarist ( spelling ? ) as prob quite a few things have changed since u were last in the hobby , like lots of LR ( live rock ) and LS ( live sand ) that is our primmery means for filterization as well as a protein skimmer,