What I did is I started with a 40gal and bought 40 pounds of sand along with 40 pounds of live rock. You don't need rock unless you want to do a filter less tank which I chose to do to make it look more realistic. You'll need a power head if you get rock to creat a current if you want a reef you'll want to get LED lights the one thing I don't have. Any kind of heater will work its an expensive hobby it took me more than 8 months to get to where I am now but I don't have a job. I pretty much told you everything I did to get my tank running. To help the tank to cycle I bought damsels, but everyone on here will bug the crap out of you if you do that as its "not right to the fish", now people told me I should've put like shrimp or something in it but you should ask more experienced people about cycling. That's everything I can tell you. Hoped I helped a little.
Well, most of the stuff you said isn't true, or completely correct.
1. Getting rock doesn't mean you can run a filter less tank. It creates biological filtration to break down ammonia and turn it into less harmful nitrates. Sumps/Canisters/HOBs are mechanical filtration. Sumps also serve as a place to hide your equipment.
2. It doesn't matter if you have rock or not, you need to have a powerhead to create a current regardless.
3. LED lights are not required. There are several different types: T5, Metal Halide, LED, PC, T8. LEDS are the newest to aquariums. Normally, T8s aren't used for reefs though.
4. Not any heater will work for any tank size. The amount of wattage, or amount of heaters, and the size of the tank all factor in.
5. Cycling with Fish-In IS inhumane. Here's a great quote from BigRedsReefs10 on here "I don't really care if you asked for my opinion or not. How would you feel if you got locked in a closet and it was pumped full of carbon monoxide? Fish in cycles ARE cruel and unnecessary and are part of the reason people look down on this hobby. If someone else was thinking about going this route and after reading this they don't then it's a success. It's not faster or easier so there is no reason to do it, dosing pure ammonia or using a piece of shrimp is faster, easier, cheaper, and most importantly not risking the life of an animal. Don't get mad at me, those are just the facts."
Yes, that's how he confronted me when Someone I was helping did a fish-in cycle. And you can be sure it helped.
