as a fellow beginner reefer, i echo whats been said.
but afew things first, this is knowledge that i have learnt over the months ive been reserching. this is by no means a definitive guide. also the fact i may be wrong. if i seem to be belittling you on your knowledge please know i dont do it on purpose. some things you might know im just assuming you dont.....and...sorry about the long post.
making a diy stand isnt as hard as you think, youtube is your friend. the king of diy has alot of videos on this stuff and will help alot.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9oZkV3tGJuUUhgZaiGZkQ
as for the rest of the stuff, planning and research are very important. understanding what does what and how will teach you what you need to configure for your tank and its needs. last thing you want to do is do something wrong and you cant undo it without moving a heavy tank. this includes plumbing, what type are you using? a 40g breeder that doesnt have any pre drilled holes is gonna allow you to do what you want. whether is be a coast to coast, ghost, bean animal, durso. all require planning and understanding. looking at your picture. it looks like your gonna have to drill your tank to install an overflow. which is another headache in itself.
once you know how things sort of works (its an never ending learning curve) you can begin to cut down on cost. eg, using braided vinyl tubing will save you alot of money over hard piping. wont look as nice but does the job.
where you keep your tank and your noise tolerance will really dictate you on the equipment section.
if you dont mind the humming from pumps and such then you have a larger list of equipment you can buy. like everything in this hobby, you really do get what you pay for, as mentioned above. buying something better with a little cash would mean it last longer. last thing you want is to have something break down and you're paying over the top for something quick to replace.
for me, im doing a mix reef tank, so this list is what i feel (i really have nothing to gauge this on lol < beginner too) is the most important:
1 lights: essentially you are trying to recreate the ocean in a confined space. alot of the parameters you can replicate. but the sun? thats a lot harder to copy. but the lights are really dependent on the types of coral you want to keep. easy corals like mushroom and leathers require very basic light and can tolerate harsher water parameters, lps like torches and hammers also very beginner friendly. plus they sway alot and look pretty. these kinds of corals you can get away with led lights. amazon has a lot of "made in china" lights that are pretty good. leds also gives you very nice shimmer! but, if you want lights that will grow with your needs as a hobbyist, i would say splash the cash and go with T5's
T5's will grow anything. ATI and Giesemann come to ming but will cost alot. so someting like:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Coralife..._Fixtures-Coralife-ES08600-FILTFIT54U-vi.html will be perfect and at a very affordable price.
2 powerheads: for me flow within the tank comes 2nd. as with lights its very dependent on what corals you have. the general rule of thumb is x10 for lps and x30 for sps. so if your tank is 40g. you're looking at 400gph turnover for lps and over 1200gph for sps.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sicce-voyager-nano-530-gph-stream-pump.html are nice, affordable and good. bare in mind that its best to get two powerheads and have them mounted on each side of the tank alternating to give a "wave effect" eg left on > right on > both on etc. a simple pump controller can make this effortless
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sicce-wave-surfer-controller.html
3: ato: auto top off. for me this is very important. you are gonna have evaporation on your tank, its gonna happen. which means you're gonna have to top off freshwater every so often. if not your salinity is gonna go out of whack. investing in a goot ato not only does it for you. but does it well. saltcreep is a problem on equipment you rely on that moves such as float valves. and could mean that your ato doesnt even know it needs to be on. of course this is mitigated by good husbandry. but honestly, id really go for the osomolator by tunzes.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-osmolator-universal-3155-auto-top-off.html pricey? yes but its worth it. other alternitives are the
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/jbj-a-t-o-water-level-controller.html
4: heater: depending on where you are from this could either be a "not so important" to "this is what keeps my tank alive!" im from CA and so far my heaters havent tuned on yet....the avarage reefer aims to keep their tank at the 78f mark. with most heaters having a -+2, the 78f allows for the fluctuations between the +-. most heaters will work the same brand new, its when they're older that you may see problems. heaters breaking while on is the worse thing that can pretty happen.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cobalt-neo-therm-submersible-heater.html are really good heaters, i have one from when i had freshwater, alittle pricy but worth it imo. on a buget ive read that
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/eheim-jager-trutemp-aquarium-heater.html are good and affordable.
5 return pump: the heart of your system! as long as you dont mind the slight hums, rio pumps are tremendously inexpensive and work really well.
6 skimmers: ive put this on 6th because i really dont have much knowledge on this. i know how they work and why people have them. but ive read that some people dont even have them and some swear by them. aquamaxx and bubble magnus do affordable skimmers that ive been told work very well despite their price.
honestly though, even at sale time, most of the items are above are still expensive. if you are not in a total rush i would really join a local reef forum and troll there used sections. alot of the time you will get very good deals. reefer to reefer is always better then craigslist.
for me, these are the main equipment you're gonna need. i mentioned at the beginning of the post about the plumbing. this is because of of this equipment has to go somewhere. for that you'll need a sump. the plumbing is a means to get the water from your tank to the sump and back up again,
making your own sump is actually really easy, again watch the youtube videos from the link above.
other equipment such as media reactors are really useful and something you should be looking to get in the future. but for now, it can wait. last advice i can give you is, dont be afraid to ask questions. reefers are nice people and are very willing to answer your questions.
not to show off, but this is my setup
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/hello.97150/#post-1324873
sorry for the long post and good luck to you!!
