Buy everything except your live rock to get started. Have everything ready to go, and that way you can go ahead and get started. This should take about 1-2 hours depending on your freshwater skillz. lol
Step 1: Read forums, read books, read articles, read posts, research online and do whatever you can to educate yourself in saltwater aquaria. Many people make mistakes on their first tank, and that is to be expected. But, you can minimize risks and mistakes by doing research before you make your purchases, live or dry. Research every live purchase and ensure compatibility for your tank before you buy. That will definitely cut down on mistakes. Find a local fish store that you trust, but always take their advice with a grain of salt. Not all fish stores are good, and not all of them are bad. Just remember that most fish stores in a difficult economy will try to make a dollar when they need it. For this reason, it's best to make informed decisions about the livestock you choose before you go to the fish store.
Step 2: Start setting up your tank. Unpack everything, throw trash away, keep warrantys, information, reciepts and other information booklets. Just in case you need to look back at it later or turn in your warranty. Create a file folder with all of your tanks information in it and with all of the paperwork so that you can keep up with it. Heck, I even put my reciepts for my every day purchases in my file folder, just in case I find a problem with it and need to take it back. After everything is unpacked...
Step 3: Buy some RO/DI water from your local water store, grocery store, or Wal-Mart. RO/DI stands for Reverse Osmosis/DeIonized water. This ensures that your water is completely free of toxins, chemicals and nitrates and phosphates that will harm your fish or create bad algae problems. Your top off water needs to be RO/DI water as well. Do not add saltwater to your aquarium for top offs. Since Saltwater aquariums evaporate only fresh water, ONLY fresh water must be added back to the aquarium to keep the salinity the same.
Step 4: Place your tank in the location that you want it to go. This location should preferably be in a place that you and visitors frequent the most... living rooms, grand rooms, entrance ways and foyers. An ideal spot is out of any form of direct sunlight (or pretty much indirect sunlight as well). Also, keep in mind that you do not want your AC blowing directly on your fish tank either. Ambient, constant room temps are a must. Before you place the aquarium, install a GFCI unit into the wall. A GFCI unit will cut off electricity if there is a sudden change in the voltage of electricity being used. This may save your life, your family's life or even your house. Another safety precaution that I want to note here is to drip loop all of your cords, and hang a grounded power strip on the wall. It's preferable to have a powerstrip with a built in fuse, even though they cost the extra money, IMHO, they are worth it.
Step 5: Put your pure water in the tank, fill it close to the top but not all the way. Then turn on your filtration equipment. (not your skimmer) and your powerheads and your heater. Begin adding your salt according to the instructions on your salt mix container. Different brands have different size cups for the same salinity. Salinity is the measure of the amount of salt in water. Add the salt to the water and let it mix for a full 24 hours. Set your lighting system on an 8 hour timer. Then come back for the next step.
Step 6: Test your water with a hydrometer or refractometer. For fish only tanks, a salinity of 1.022 to 1.024 is acceptable. For reef tanks, a salinity of 1.024 to 1.026 is more desirable. If the salinity is still not up to where it needs to be, add more salt and let it mix for another 24 hours. If it's too high, take a gallon of saltwater out and put a gallon of freshwater in until you have the desired salinity. Keep the gallon of saltwater you take out for a mini-water change and other stuff as needed. At this time you can start ordering your buying your live rock. Live rock at fish stores is expensive, but you get to put your eyes on what you are buying. If you order online, you might get a good deal, but you never know what you are going to get.
Step 7: Once you know you are on par with your salinity, siphon out 5g of saltwater from your tank into a clean container (one of your 5g jugs). Then dump in your sand. Turn on your protein skimmer at this time and get it working. Follow all of the directions carefully so you don't overflow the cup and cause any water damage. Your skimmer will most likely pull out a little bit of the sand particulates in the water column, but nothing to be worried about. It will take about 24 to 48 hours for the water to be crystal clear. You can wait until your tank is clear before you add your live rock, or if you already have it, you can go ahead and add it. You will notice that the water level will rise as you put more and more stuff (sand and rock) in your tank. This is the purpose of taking out the 5g before you start. If you still have a gap at the top of the aquarium, add some saltwater back to the tank once you have live rock in and re-measure your salinity. Take note of where your water level is, and always try to keep it at that level with fresh water.
Step 8: Once you have your live rock in the tank and aquascaped the way you want it, you will need to add a small piece of shrimp to start the Nitrogen Cycle. The Nitrogen Cycle is a process by which the dead and decaying organisms (and your piece of shrimp) creates ammonia which is then converted into nitrite and eventually nitrate by various sets of bacteria. The reason why you add a small piece of shrimp is because it allows enough ammonia to build up in the system, creating bacteria to handle a fish bioload. The cycle takes anywhere from one week to 30 days to complete. During this time you should be doing research, asking questions and testing your water every five days for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Once ammonia and nitrite have disappeared then it's time to start adding ONE fish.
Step 9: Adding a fish is easy, keeping him alive might be the hard part. Do not cycle your tank with fish, it is not the moral thing to do. Damsels are not good fish to start with because they are overly aggressive towards any other fish in the system. Unless you really like damsels and want a damsel only tank. A good starter fish are Chromis, because they are hardy and cheap. Clownfish are also hardy fish, but many people don't want to risk loosing a $20 fish as their first fish. Research drip acclimation and use it if at all possible. Drip acclimation has it's benefits, and detriments, but overall I have had good success with this method over the years. If you decide for clownfish, add two at the same time.
Step 10: Maintenance. Maintenance should be done at the very least once a month. Salinity, temp and pH of your saltwater should match your display tank water as closely as possible. Many hobbyists that have more experience can get away with doing water changes once every six months to a year, however, being a new hobbyist, if something goes wrong in the tank, a water change is perhaps the most simple and easiest thing to do. Change out only half of your filters at one time because you won't be completely taking away all the bacteria at one time that is built up on the filter. Filters with carbon in them should be replaced every 30 days. Check your water temp to make sure it is constant. Once a month, do water tests for salinity, nitrate and pH. If you have corals, test for nitrate, phosphate, pH, alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. Clean your aquariums glass when needed. Check your powercords to make sure there are no drips.
Step : Research and read more. There is always something new and exciting to learn and try to do. Learn diseases, acclimation methods, flow rates, nitrate and phosphate removal methods, chemical filtration methods, refugiums, algae scrubbers, protein skimmers... basically anything and everything. There are all kinds of experiments you can try and do. This hobby is a somewhat forgiving hobby when you get the experience to do it. It's one of the most rewarding hobbies that anyone could ever get into, IMHO. Keep it up, keep reading, and keep reefing!
Edit: By the way, I copyrite this material. I am the only person that can copy and paste it. If I see this "article" anywhere else on the internet then you are in big trouble!!! If you have any questions about it, please contact me at SnakeBlitz33@gmail.com Thank you.
I'm going to put off college for one more year to take care of the kid.