My main recommendations would be buy a good thermostat like a Herpstat. It's the most important piece of equipment for a snake to keep them healthy and happy. There's on/off types that are cheaper, however that's full heat on, full off, and some of these type will fail in the on position when they quit working. I prefer proportional that keep a lower powered steady heat, safety fail in the off position and have alarms to alert me if temps go too high or low. Set up your cage 1-2 weeks in advance to make sure everything is running at correct temps.
Next would be depending on your climate, don't be set on putting your snake in a fish tank. There's many reasons most aren't suitable from lack of air flow to simply not enough floor space. Plus they are breakable and heavy as hell when you need to clean or move them. In a warm ambient area a small tub setup with a heat mat would be better, in a changing cooler climate I'd spring for a PVC cage with a radiant heat panel. Heat lamps drain humidity like crazy and aquariums don't hold heat or humidity worth a squat because they aren't meant to. Misting or relying on substrate being wet or blocking off airflow is not consistent or healthy, you don't want your temps and humidity all over the place daily, you want them to stay steady or your snake is far more likely to get sick and have issues shedding.
I've used a bunch of substrates, now I just use paper because it's easier but all of them have their pros and cons, try out what you like and see how it goes. One snake it's not hard to keep up on but be aware you can't always tell when they've peed so a sniff test works better than visual check with bedding. I wouldn't bother with lighting as long as there's windows in the room for some ambient.
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