The first consideration is placement. You want to find an area that you can enjoy it most of the time. Living rooms would be ideal. You should avoid area with drafts or you are likely bump into it carrying an item. A hit in the wrong place can chip the glass or worse cause a leak.

Stands. This is really your personal preference. The metal would will be are slightly easier to tip over. They also have a tendency to rust over time. The wood look great but cost quite a bit more. I don't like particle board because it will disintegrate if it get wet. Getting wet seems likely since you be removing and adding water weekly for years. The solid wood are very nice looking and strong support. You can build your own using nice looking cement block and wood on the top. Remember that water weighs 8lb. per gallon. A twenty gallon tank weighs 160 lbs. without counting the tank, stand, gravel, and equipment. You need a place that has structural support to hold the excess weight. The very large tanks need to be over cement or ground.

Light hoods. These are not a long lived item. My experience is they last about year and half needing to replaced. If you are handy you can replace the ballast. You can set up with a timer to be on when you are normally in the room. You only need lights when you are growing live plants. Plastic plants don't need light. They fish usually don't need much light either. Excess light can encourage algae blooms. The humans in the room like to see the fish.

Aquarium size. The biggest that you can afford in best. It is much more difficult to maintain a ten gallon tank than 30 or more. The larger the tank the more stable the environment. You have more time to correct problems before the fish start to die. I would say that a 55 gallon tank is the most bang for the buck. As you built bigger tank when the volume double the material to built it quadruple. Also the tank is impossible for one person to move. A 55 weighs 78 lbs. and a strong person can move it empty. It is easier for two people to lift. When you are stocking a tank it is amazing how fast it fills up.

As many of you have seen these mini plastic tank that hold two gallons or less. I would not recommends getting one of a newbie. Learning how to care for a tank takes a bit of practice. A tank this small is much harder to maintain. The only thing that you can really put in them is a Betta or some very tiny fish. Also the price tag can be high. I have seen two gallon tank with prices of over $60 for the same money you could buy and set up a ten gallon and have a better chance of success. The amount of fish that you can put in a tank is proportional to the surface area of the water.

Also the wall hanging tanks. It is really hard to have an nail support the weight of two or three gallons of water. You have seen those TV tanks that are two inches thick. They are also very pricey I think new three hundred dollars. The fish need room to turn around and also how can you put your inside to remove something or clean algae off the side. For that price you can buy a 55 gallon tank and put money toward the fish. The really odd tank shapes don't work as well. The same goes for the tower tanks or the two hexagon with tube connecting them. These have a large volume of water with little surface area. The fish often do not survive a long time.

Gravel. Again is a matter of personal taste. Any approved for aquarium gravel will work. The bright colors gravels most people get sick of looking at over time. Also if you have hot pink gravel covered with fish solid waste. You can see the waste very clearly on light or brightly colored gravel. Using natural makes the waste is less visible to the eye. Also the color does not peel off after a few years. If you wish an aquarium can be running for twenty years or more natural colored gravel is the answer. Also fish do react to their environment and adjust their coloration. The darker the gravel the more intense the color the fish will be. I think that fish are very attractive over black gravel. I probably have a couple hundred pounds of the stuff. Gravel is not cost effective to ship. It usually costs around $.75 a pound. The rule of  thumb is one pound per gallon of water.

Heaters. These might be optional for some people. If you live in an area of the country that is warm most of the time, it is not as important. There is another thing that you must realize with heaters. If the room in cool and the water is warmer than the room. You will have a lot of evaporation from the tank. Also you will have water condensing in the cooler area of the room like the windows or corner. This can cause a rot or mold problem. This is especially true in a sealed, well insulated house. In my old apartment, the landlord upgraded to new sealed windows. I had water running down them all winter. I also had mold growing on the wall. You would to keep the temperature of the water in the tank and room as close as possible. The best brand of  heater I know is Jagger. They are submersible and very durable. search for aquarium heaters

Filtration equipment. You have lots of choice. I like to have redundancy in the system. If one system fails you have a couple of back up to keep the fish healthy until you fix the problem.

Little box in the corner. You older people remember when you saw a fish tank their was a plastic box with white fiberglass and charcoal bubbling in the corner. The fiberglass provided a place to the bacteria to colonize break down the waster. It would filter the water slight. Once a month or so you would clean out the fiberglass buy not too well so the bacteria would not all be cleaned and change the charcoal. All you need was an air pump and some tubing to get it working. They work fine and cost very little. You would have order them online since fish stores do not stock them.

Sponge Filter. I have written a guide on these. I think they are wonderful in the corner and will last for decades.They need tubing and an air pump to operate. You move these in a new tank to allow it to cycle immediate instead of the full month.  search for sponge filters

Undergravel Filter. Just as the name implies it sits under the gravel. There are a number of brands. I like the Perfecto type the best since the water flow seems to work better. They are tougher built and less gravel seems to work its way underneath. There are two ways to operate them one is with air stone on the lift tubes. The other is using a power head. I like the power head better. They seem to last longer than air pumps. I think there is much better water movement through the gravel. The point of the water movement is to promote bacteria growth in the gravel. Some fish like to play in the current. I either point it into the corner or along the back wall of the aquarium. My cories like to lay eggs in the stream. search for undergravel filters.

Power Filters. I think these are the greatest thing since sliced bread. They hang on the side of the tank and filter the debris out of the water. They need to clean out with the impeller blades are full of junk.It is easy to change the filter. They are not very noisy if the water level is high enough. My favorite brand is Whisper. If you have more than one aquarium you can switch the filter pads to start a new tank. It will cycle in days instead of waiting the full month. search for aquarium power filter.

Aquarium Furniture. Fish like places that can hide when they feel threatens. This can include plastic plants. Plastic plants allow to set up fast and not have to worry about plants growth. There is nothing wrong with these decorations. I am a horticulture student and fake plants I can tell from across the room. I prefer real plants. Plastic are quick. Before you buy any plant I would suggest that you research it first to see you have the right condition, water type, lighting needs, CO2 levels, and temperature.One of the natural plants that seems only survive regardless of the experience of the tank keeper is Java Moss. It is always for sale on eBay. A small start will grow with time.

 Rocks are popular but make sure that they are safe for the aquarium. Limestone will dissolve and change the pH of the water. There are some rocks that will leach metals into the water. Copper will kill plants and some fish are sensitive to it. There are artificial rocks that look good. If you have a pleco they will damage them when removing the algae.

Stocking with fish is the last big step. It should be done slowly over weeks. You start with only 25% of the total at first. I suggest that you buy the cheap fish first. They are more likely to survive. I will be writing a guide covers the types of fish for a community tank. They are the favorites of people getting their first tank. You can ask your dealer or a friend into tropical fish for a list of suggestions.

Cycling a Tank. The nitrogen cycle is important for the health of your fish. A fish tank is a miniature sewage system. The fish and rotting food produce ammonia. The fish will release ammonia directly into the water through their skin. Their are bacteria that break down food and produce ammonia. The ammonia is used by another group of bacteria that produce nitrite or NO2. This is also a very toxic substance. They can and will kill fish. The final stage is nitrate or NO3. This is less toxic but if it builds up over time can affect the health of fish. The plants will use both ammonia or nitrate for fertilizer. Your goal is to keep the ammonia and nitrate level at or near zero. Water changes are to the primary way to keep your fish healthy. You must change some of the water every week. At least a 30% change to keep nitrate level low. Almost all diseases of fish are caused or worsened by dirty (nitrate, ammonia, and nitrate) water. In the natural environment fish are never exposed at the levels that are often found in home aquariums. Also remember that fish stores have a heavy load of fish to be available for sale. It is not the way to keep fish long term.

Feeding should be done several times a day. The fish should be able to eat all the food in a few minutes. It is easy to overfeed the fish and cause high ammonia levels in the tank.

I hope this helps you set up your tank. If you see something that is not mentioned send me an email and I will answer and update the guide. My goal is to help people set up tanks the right way the first time.