Hi Ally,
First of all, congrats on your Discus journey, and since you visited this site before you started, I'd say you already made your life A LOT easier.
I am also a discus newbie (<2 years into discus) but been through quite a lot in term of newbie mistakes / adventures.
Please take my below advice with a grain of salt.
1. Please get the biggest tank as you can. Sooner or later, you will think "IF ONLY I WENT FOR THE BIGGER ONE"
2. Please get the biggest discus as you can, for the first batch at least. <- Would save you from a heck of headache.
3. Please get as many discus as you can. Most of us lost/stunt a few along the way. It's a part of the journey.
4. Please go with bare bottom tank for your first batch. <- Would save you from a heck of headache.
5. Change your water as frequently and as much as you can (90% a day is not even too much for discus nerds, you know.)
6. When s$%t happens (and, well, it might happen), please calm down and visit this site. Ask question, provide necessary details. Follow instructions from these discus pros. They really save lives!
7. After a success season or so, you might consider do things you wanted, adding some plants here and there, adding few tank mates, adding new champion quality discus, raising from a pup, breeding exotic strain, searching for holy grail etc.
8. Last but not least, please read this thread, one of my favorite from Al.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...r-the-Hobbyist
Enjoy your journey!