Also, a good thing to do is to figure out what it is that you MUST have in your tank and then create the tank around it. This will tell you if you will decide between FOWLR or reef...or that if you want a reef you might need to reconsider your choice or even need a larger tank. With this, once you know the type of tank you will have you can make decisions like HOB filter, canister...whatever. Some choices, like canisters, are used more infrequently with reefs due to the need for pristine water conditions which results from utilizing a sump/fuge type setup with protein skimmers.
I run LR, HOB filter (marineland), and sump w/ skimmer on my reef. Might be a tad overkill...but it works for me.