Hopefully your friend is telling you the do's and dont's of this hobby, just in case here are a few.
First and foremost you need to learn patience. If you are not careful you will fall in the trap of wanting your fish tank to look like the great barrier reef overnight and that will cost you a lot of money, losses and headaches.
Learn how to QT fish before putting them in Bow Front tank
Before ever buying a chiller try small clip on fans first
Buy your fish from retailers that provide stay alive guarantees such as Live Aquaria, NY Aquatic or go to Max Reefs
Buy skimmer rated for 200-250 gallons and nothing less
Buy metal heater instead of glass
Buy a RODI Water filter
Buy a
refractometer
That's it, that is all you need to get started, if you skip the quaranteeing step for your fish you will eventually pay the price, ask your friend to explain in more detail.
Dont worry about coral for now, you can and should wait a few months.
Before you ever add a coral you will need to learn about algae control and that may or may not take a while and the light you have for now is fine, later on you can change the bulbs or the light itself.
Do not go off buying dosing pumps, aquarium controllers, fancy equipment of any kind, skimmer and RODI is all you need for now.
Once you decide to get into corals, use the internet to learn about nuisance beginner corals, stay away from invading beginner corals or you will regret it 12 months later.
Dip all of your corals in stuff like Coral Rx or other safe coral dip before ever putting them in your tank, use the internet to learn about this, skip this step and you will find yourself losing money.
Last but not least, understand and accept that corals grow very very very slowly and nothing that you do or buy will make them grow faster than nature intended them to.
Before you buy any piece of equipment worth more than say $50 ask people on the forums if you should buy it and what have they truly used it for and if there are alternatives.
Ask your friend to be sincere with you and share how he has lost money and how he has not.