Hello Eric
There are so many different theories on how best to maintaina SW tank it boggles the mind lol. I suggest you go to reefcentral.com. Tons of info there.
gary

reefcentral.com is a great suggestion. Since you want to start with fish only I would go with a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock). For a FOWLR you don't need a ton of live rock like a reef or live corals, so it is less expensive. Live rock has a good amount of benificial bacterias on it already and will host alot more as it "matures". The thing with any aquarium is to have as much surface area as possible for these detoxiying bacterias to grow. A 1" sandbed is fine to start, use a quality aragonite sand. The sand and the live rock have a good amount of surface area. Most aquarium lights that are sold with the tank aren't good for a reef but will be fine for a FOWLR. However you may have to add an extra fixture, it depends on the wattage of you current setup. A good idea for a larger tank is a sump type filter, they are not that expensive to make but if you buy a commercial one it can be very expensive. It all depends on budget, but 2 hang on power filters would be ok. Just get enough to turn the water over 7-10 times per hour, meaning you have a 60G tank so the combined GPH of the filters should be 420-600 GPH (gallon per hour). If a "quality" protien skimmer is in your budget it is a great addition. Not a necessity now but would be a good future investment. A 250-300W heater, or 2 smaller ones is needed. So if you are going to eventually go with a Reef I would get a few quality pieces of live rock along with some base rock (or dead rock) to keep that cost down. At least 3 watts per gallon of fluorescent light(preferably 67000-10000K). The filters and heater. Go to reefcentral.com and there is a pretty good book published by TFK at petstores, can't remember the title but it has a cardinal fish on the cover, good basic info and more. Also drsfostersmith.com has good deals on sand,filters and heaters. AHSupply.com has good lighting kits for cheap to start.

Reefcentral is a mean place, makes Garden web look downright friendly, good luck, they have all the info you need.

I don't know all that much about saltwater tanks, but I do know that if I had one, I would probably go with bits of crushed shells and coral for substrate. It gives your tank a natural look, but it won't compact or get into your filter the way sand can.

For lighting, my dad uses either two sets of LEDs or one set of LEDs and a flourescent light(s). I really can't remember. Either way, the light is that white/light blue color in the day, and later at night and in the early morning, it switches to a few dark blue LEDs to give the fish dawn and dusk. It also looks really cool. I don't know how much something like that would cost. I think he said one of his friends had made it from scratch. I image it would be fairly cheap and easy to make if you had the knowledge and tools.

I would suggest that you go around to various stores that sell saltwater stuff and ask what they think you'll need. Take notes and then research the products online to make sure. (That's actually a good way to do all your shopping.) And be sure to tell them what sort of fish you want so that you can make sure everyone and everything is compatible.

As for not keeping invertibrates, critters like snails, hermit crabs, mini brittle stars, and copepods all help keep your tank pretty, and they sort of form their own little circle of life. Chances are that you'll get some against your will on live rock, but that's a good thing. You'll probably get things like feather dusters, too.

A good protien skimmer combined with a sump, hang on or cannister filter works well. I would forget the live rock until the tank cycles. Also start with a few cheap, hardy damsels and test the water until it cycles. The hang on filters are the cheapest and the sumps the most expensive [probably the best] and the canister is in between. It's difficult to mix many sw fish with live rock and corals, I'd recommend fish only to get the hang of it. Most corals need special lighting and water additives which get very expensive.

Don't forget live rock untill the tank cycles. When you add live rock you will have massive dieoff, especially if you order uncured live rock offline (which you should do). If you ever want to make this into a reef tank you should start with live rock in the tank and add fish and get used to fish and inverts first, Macro algea too, no were in the worlds are there reefs with corals and no macroalgeas (well, deep water yes, but not the corals you or I will ever be able to keep well) Use a thin thin layer of aragonite or Crushed coral for a substrate and you will have a low maintainence tank, protien skimmer will help c=keep the water clean but will limit your pod population and your ability to keep feather dusters, clams, scallops, sponges, and many phyto eating soft corals, Also canister and Hob filters will limit your pod population which you need if you want to keep podeating fish well. In my nanocube I have/had not filter sponge of any sort, I rely entirely on the live rock to keep my water clean and it is, its very green, which I want for my feather dusters and pods, but by pulling water through my rocks I keep particulates out of the water and keep my rock very much alive, I did have algea [problems coming off of a crash (heatrelated, not many critters like it up around 95F) but I cleaned that up with a good clean up crew and havent had problems since.

Most important thing will be a ro unit to filter your water to put in your tank. Without it you will have algae problems. Especially if you plan on having corals and live rock. There are just too many nitrates, phosphates, etc. in drinking water to use without a ro unit filtering them out. And when you figure what you think it will cost to setup your aquarium, triple that amount and you will probably be closer. Test kits, salt, fish, filters, heaters(chillers), stand, additives,replacing bulbs every 6 months or so, they all add up. Buy the reef lights right away instead of the standard light, no sense paying for the standard and then getting rid of it when you want to add corals. Better to buy the best stuff right away because cheap stuff always turns out to be more expensive after you replace it a few times!! I learned that lesson the hard way!

Lee

reefcentral.com is a good site with a lot of information for the beginner. Like stated they can be downright cruel at times and not as helpful as some others such as aquariacentral.com or myfishtank.com which are my favourites. I personally have done this for a while and my advice to you is to get two books "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael Paletta and "The Concientious Marine Aquariust" by Robert Fenner, I read both of these books back to back long before purchasing the first piece of equipment. Better to go slow and do it right, "Nothing good happens fast in saltwater" Do not use crushed coral as a substrate or use a wet/dry filter with bioballs. Over time these become nitrate factories and will lead to many many problems down the road. Read these books, save your money and buy quality equipment as you can afford it. When you have enough money saved invest in some quality live rock which should be approx 2lbs/gallon (can be mixed live & base to start with a minimum of 1lb/g of quality live rock, a deep sand bed of at least 4 inches deep of good aragonite sand with fine sugar texture. This sand and rock will act as your main biological filter converting nitrates to nitrogen ..... A protein skimmer is a good addition along with quality lighting these are all the equipment you need. Purchase some good powerheads for water movement of about 30 x your tank size per hour and you are good to go. Remember that water changes are a must in this hobby. Read and take the advice of those in the hobby. DO NOT LISTEN TO THE LOCAL FISH STORE AS A RESOURCE most are trying to sell equipment and are not schooled in the hobby enogh to give objective advice.....ask those that know and do this every day.

Do an internet search for local clubs and reef keeping forums. reefcentral.com probably has the most information. There is a beginners section as well as club sections.

First you really need to decide what you want to keep. Saltwater fish is on thing but if you want to get into corals it is another. Plan on dropping several thousand dollars as well. My advice is to plan, plan, research and research. It will save you time, money and heartburn down the road.

In both freshwater and saltwater the bigger the tank the more forgiving they can be.

I have been keeping a saltwater tank for over 10 years now. Once they are up and running and you do your maintance they are easy to keep. Again, saltwater is not only expensive from the equipment side, but the fish and coral can be very expensive.

Fishforums.net has a pretty nice SW section IMHO.

thereeftank.com

It's a great community and tons of help with a wealth of information.