I'm going to start setting up my 55 this evening, and will start by making a circuit of 2 PetCos, a Walmart, and a LFS. Want to get going on the tank, so I basically just want the filter, and substrate, and hopefully heater quicker than waiting for shipping. At the WalMart I will pick up odds and ends like a bulb for my 3gal, batting for filter pads, a power strip, a timer, and the like.
Will jumpstart things with mulm & gravel from my 30, and an old filter pad or 2. Will transplant some plants from my existing 30gal, and add in some cheapie fast growers from PetCo - as per Rex's cycling guide. Won't really landscape yet, as I won't have the lighting and CO2 together for a couple of weeks yet. And I need to clean off the piece of wood that is going in there. Will figure out exactly what fish I want to add next week (again, per Rex) - most likely angels, angelicus cats, serpae and cories.
Hopefully, I can get a price match on the flourite and filter at one of the PetCos. At least a match of the PetCo on-line filter price.
Only need a couple of bags of flourite, as I'm going 50/50 with flourite/gravel.
If PetCo won't match the flourite, I'll get it at the LFS where I get 10% off. Again, that gets it close enough to on-line shipped price including overweight charges.
Don't know that the PetCos or LFS stock the Hydor inline heater, tho.