Advice? Tank Build! New member, new to saltwater

Hello all, I'm looking to setup a new saltwater tank and would appreciate any advice or things that I should look at. I've had successful 30gal freshwater tanks (been a couple of years since), but everything has worked out for now to be a good time to try my hand at saltwater. I'm envisioning something similar to this tank in the POTM for April.

Equipment
I picked up an Aqueon 65gal tank (18.4"L x 36.4"W x 25"H) and stand that was on sale from the local Pet Smart but that is as far as I've gotten equipment wise. Here is the list of my planned equipment so far:

• Marineland Emperor 400 Pro Series Bio-wheel x 1
• Aquatop GH150, 150 watt submersible heater x 2
• Protein skimmer of some kind approx. 2 months after setup (was told I didn't need one before that) x 1

Planned fish(not sure on # or combination yet)

• clownfish
• chromis
• basslet
• dottyback
• goby

Questions:

• Do I need 2 heaters? We keep our house between 68-76 degrees all year round
• I read some old forum posts about RO water from Hy-Vee, is this still viable? If not my plan was to buy distilled
• I've been browsing LiveAquaria.com for live rock, fish, etc. anyone have experience with them? I've also been to Adam's Aquatics in Des Moines once and their fish looked good.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help/advice!

 

Sumps are something I've spent very little time looking at. I've read about them in my hours of perusing the internet for saltwater articles but had always had HOB equipment with my freshwater tanks. How big of sump do you have for the tank? Did you do a DIY project or purchase something? Thanks!

 

Great advice thank you! Power failures weren't discussed in any of the article I had read.

 

Thanks but after some quick searching I found some ideas. Since you have the same tank though, do you still have the original hood & light or have you changed it out?

 

The drilling definitely scares me, and honestly I was shying away from a sump just because it seemed like an additional expense, but a sump definitely seems like the way to go. Did a quick look at the local CraigList and looks like someone has an Oceanic Model 1 that should fit in my cabinet. Asking $50, is that reasonable? Would that be a decent sump? Thanks!

 

Thanks Buku! Browsing the for sale section of the site now looking for a deal!

 

Thanks everyone for the replies, the information has definitely been helpful and given me even more to think about. I just measured the bottom of my stand and I don't think a 40 breeder is going to fit in there. I've got roughly 33"x18"x18" so I think that drops me to a 29gal sump if I went that way. Which brings up another question, is that big enough/worth it on a 65gal display tank? How much space do I need between the top of the sump and the roof of the cabinet? I've been to Iowa Pet Food & Aquatics before, great looking store, I'll get back in there soon to check things out. Thanks for all of the help!