Well, I made the trek to the semi-LFS today with a plan in place. When I told them what I was doing, they basically said none of it was necessary: No, you don't need to make a refuguim, and no, you don't need to clean the bio balls. Doesn't matter if the brown crud is on there, its all gonna end up that way anyway. No, you don't need RODI water to set it all up. Go ahead and use tap water, just put a conditioner in it. No don't put dead shrimp in the water to start the cycle, just buy some damsels so you can see fish swimming right away. Be prepared for them to die, then just leave them in the tank to get the cycle going. The damsels are really the only thing they tried to sell me! When I said I was prepared to wait several weeks before adding fish, she basically said to get some and sacrifice the little guys!
Nevertheless, I came home with salt, a few replacement parts, and some unique pieces of rock that I liked. No fish! I also got a RO unit that I'm gonna take back..had a broken part. (BTW, she said I didn't need one of those either. When I told her I was getting one, I was told that in Houston and where I live in College Station we don't need DI units (just RO) Guess I'll search online and look for a true RODI unit. Any recommendations?
Tomorrow we are mixing the water, and adding sand and rock in the tank. Boys are excited and so am I!!!!