It's looking great!
In terms of tests, recommendations are shifting these days, but I found it useful to follow the cycle along with the usual tests (NH3, NO and NO3), specially if doing a fishless cycle. Later on, once I had some corals in, I added Alk, Ca and Mg, which I test regularly to make sure there are no significant shifts (specially in Alk). The Red Sea Foundation kit will get you there in the beginning and you will see if other test kit brands work better for you as you go along. I also test NO3 and PO4 from time to time to make sure values do not bottom out and trigger a dinoflagellate outbreak or go too high. I find myself testing less and less of these last two as the system matures and feeding patterns are settled. It all depends on your specific conditions. With time you create your own routine and determine what feels comfortable for you and your system.
Hiding equipment is a little challenging without a separate cabinet but you may get away with putting some of it above the sump as other people do. That may create other problems due to humidity and salt creep on the equipment, but I seen several pictures of people putting equipment there. Maybe others will advise. One recommendation from the pictures is to take the power brick and other electronics from the floor next to the tank just in case there is some water spill. Also, if the outlet you are plugging things in is not a GFCI one, you might want to consider adding an adapter to it.
I'm interested to see what your results are with the bacteria-in-a-bottle and ammonium chloride. Did the same for mine using a different brand and it worked great.
Keep the posts coming!