Alright, im gonna try to cover everything on a very basic level. Your going to have to make some desicsions and ask more specific questions. Its going to be really really long, but i have no life, Here we go:
Situation: as others stated, if your final goal is a reef system, i would start out with a reef system, IMO forget the FOWLR.
Tank: for a beginner i would get a 75 gallon Reef ready(RR) tank. its got enough room for rock placement, flow pattern, and most smaller reef safe inhabitants.
Lighting: for coral, the more lighting the better. if money doesnt pose a restriction, Metal Halides(MH) are the best. You can pretty much keep every photosynthetic coral and clam under them. If your not willing to dish out so much money, T5's or Power Compact(PC) lights are good for most coral, except SPS and clams.
Filtration: in freshwater you probably had mechanical filters but here, most people will tell you forget them. since they trap physical "crap" they can pose a problem in that they hold the waste and let is decompose till it becomes a "nitrate factory" (it continuously releases nitrates into your system and possibly cause algae problems). The most common filtration here at TRT is a full Berlin Method. the Berlin Method is lots of live rock(LR), and a large Protein Skimmer. a protein skimmer is some sort of container, usually a cylinder shape, that produces lots of micro-bubbles inside of it. the bubbles allow stuff to rise up to a collection cup where stuff that we cant even see in our water gets taken out, called skimmate(pretty nasty stuff, youll see).
Sump: since your looking into RR tanks, your going to want a sump. A sump is a tank or other container that goes under your display tank. the gravity feed takes water and pours it into the sump. Your sump is where you would put all your equipment (skimmer, heater, UV sterilizer, anything). You can buy a pre-made sump online but IMO its just as easy and alot cheaper to make your own. All you have to do is get a small tank (for a 75 gallon, a 30 gallon sump is good) and put some ballasts in it to make x number of chambers. each chamber will have its own purpose, whether filtration, refugium, and the return section.
Other equipment:
-since your probably gonna get a RR tank, the gravity feed allows you to get a nice sized return pump. a return pump will go in your sump (it will be in the last chamber) and it will retun you water back up to your display tank. In a reef you want to have at least the entire volume of your tank's water (in a 75 + 30 gallon tank say half-full that would be 90 gallons) turn over at least 10-20 times per hour. That means you want to get a return pump that can handle at least 900 gallons per hour(GPH).
Flow: in a reef you want water flow to feed coral and take away its waste. Each coral has its own flow requirements(and lighting for that matter). for flow you can use simple Power Heads(PH) or a
closed loop system(CLS)
Substrate: there are basically 3 different things you can do. You can have a bare-bottom(BB) tank which has no substrate at all, allowing for easier and more effective removal of Detritus(waste). You can have a shallow sand bed(SSB) which is only a few inches deep, you can have a deep sand bed(DSB) which is often used for
biological filtration. Different substrates are sand, or crushed coral(CC). your substrate is mostly a matter of opinion, it really doesn't matter what you do.
RO/DI: the water you use is all important. this is why your going to want to get an Reverse Osmosis/De-ionizing(RO/DI) unit to filter your tap water. this works independant of your tank. you make all your water ahead of time with this.
to sum it all up:
-a 75 gallon tank or larger
-a sump
-a good protein skimmer(size respective to size of tank)
-good lighting, MH T5 or PC(also respective to size of tank)
-LR
-a return pump that can do at least 10 times your water volume per hour
-Sand or CC
-water movment in PH's or a CLS
-an RO/DI unit
now then, this was only a list of some of the most basic equipment to set up a reef. theres a ton more things like CA reacters, UV sterilizers, chillers, etc. but the above is pretty much all a beginner wants and needs to set up a tank. As you go you may pick up some other stuff.
The most important thing in reef keeping is...research. before you buy ANYTHING, live or not, ask TRT about it or check it out on other sites.
ps. dont go solely on what i say, everybody has there own opinions on equipment and methods and it is best to hear everybody to make your own descision as to what is best for you (and knowing me i probably forgot to mention a lot of stuff anyway.)
