Hi, I'm from Arizona...looking at this forum because my brother wants to start a sw tank and he lives in Portland, anyway, I've been in the hobby for ten plus years and have a lot of experience with the good and the bad. I've had lots of failures and successes, trials and errors. My two-cents;
1. I would NEVER use tap water with an additive for my salt mixture. RO/DI from a reliable fish store is imperative!
2. Never add anything when things a dying! Stabilize the tank first.
3. Nanoboxreef.com has the BEST LED lighting for the budget and Dave's customer service is outstanding! There is a link to email him for questions on lighting for your tank.
4. I use Aquavitro additives. Seed is wonderful to add good bacteria. Remediation helps with waste/detritus
5. Filter socks are great...add Matrix to the socks as well as the appropriate size bag(s) of Chemi-Pure
6. Be sure to stock your fuge with live rock rubble. I also put cheato in the fuge with a small coralife light to keep it growing.
7. Seed your cheato with Tigger-Pods from Reef Nutrition.
8. Poly-Filter pads are a must in my tanks...they do an awesome job controlling phosphates, ammonia, nitrites/nitrates, etc.!
9. Personally I never use carbon. If you use number 5 & 8 you really don't need to.
10. As you add the above, test water weekly and adjust. You may need to beef-up the Chemi-Pure and don't skimp on the Poly-Filters (by the way, don't throw out the PF unless they turn a color like red, just rinse when dirty and put back in.
11. Feed your fish quality frozen food like Bio-Pure or Hikari and always add Selcon. I make up a batch of frozen, soaked in Selcon (one dropper full) and keep it ready in my fridge in a sealed container.
12. Invest in some Reef Nutrition food/additives like Oyster Eggs, PhytoFeast, RotoFeast, etc. Very concentrated so add to tank sparingly WHEN you are able to add corals.
13. I firmly believe in naturally occurring organisms like bristle worms, spaghetti worms, etc. They are essential to keep a healthy tank.
I hope this helps, if I think of more I'll post. I'm available at lysamgarcia@gmail.com.