First. Welcome to RF if I haven't welcomed you before.
First thing your going to want to do is..
1. Decide if you're going to use sand or go bare bottom. There's pros and cons to both. So research this some.
2. Setup the tank and your sand if that's what you decide to do and your live rock.
3. Setup your lighting (You don't say what you're using)
4. Let it cycle. This where it takes some patience. This can take some time but the goal is to let the tank mature and create the bacteria needed for filtration. During this time you'll want to test Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates. The typical cycle will start with Ammonia climbing, followed by Nitrites and then Nitrates. Once these values have reached 0 (especially Ammonia and Nitrites) Nitrates are important to have as close to 0 as possible. Typically the way to lower nitrates is via water changes. Once this done you can start to add things slowly.
During the cycle time since the tank will be doing it's own thing, figure out what you want to keep and continue to Research, research, research & research. Did I say research..
Somethings you might want to look into is a QT tank. Do yourself a favor and get a QT tank figured out. This is a place to put new wet inhabitants into for observation and treat if required. This will prevent the headache of introducing any parasites (Ich, etc) into the main display. It doesn't need to be anything special.
Looking to getting good quality test kits. Spend the extra money now for good ones. I use Salifert and would recommend them but there's other good ones out there also.
Test kits:
PH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates.
Once you start to get corals etc. you want to start testing ALk, Calcium, Phosphates and Magnesium
The key thing is to take you time. Most reef tanks you see weren't created over night. They take time and patience, mines 2 years old and it's still growing and filling in.
There probably a few things I'm missing here, but I'm sure others will chime in.
HTH.
