I reccomend you use a refractometer. As funny as I thought it would be to say it, it's true. Hydrometers are inaccurate and you get much better results from them. As stated or reccomended by anyone else, you can buy them off ebay or a website that sells them. Going by little_fish's article, your local LFS (local fish store) usually doesn't sell them. If they did, the price on them would be steep. I used a hydrometer back when I had my old tank and I never even knew about refractometers. It's a good purchace indeed. Powerheads will definitely keep your water mixed. As for lighting, i'm not too sure on that one. I do know that live rock contains algae or other small inhabitants that could use light to live but I doubt it's very important. Make sure to research as much as you can. If you want corals down the road, keep in mind that different corals have different needs when it comes to lighting. Zoanthid polyp corals are lower light corals whereas I believe Small polyp stony corals need a lot of light. But it depends on the coral. Some corals also require different flow rates of water. Try to keep a light schedule going. Exposing the aquarium to an extended ammount of light can cause algal blooms. Furthermore, avoid putting the aquarium near a window so the tank isn't exposed to natural sunlight. Make sure your tank properly cycles too! Keep testing your water paramaters for NH3, NO2, and NO3( Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite). During the cycle, these elements\chemicals will tend to spike up then get lower over time as the cycle nears its end. Once your readings measure zero for all the tests, start off with a clean up crew and get that going for a while. Patience is key. Don't add a lot of fish all at once. Put a fish in and see how it does. All the while, keep maintaining your tank and testing the water. Change 10-15% of your water every week. Then again, people have differing views on how they change water. Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly. Keep us updated!
