Set up slowly with the live rock first and no critters. It depends on equiptment and DIY capabilities as far as $$$ but for a reef of 20-30 gal it could cost $300 or more just for the set up without critters. I would reccomend a small brackish water set up to get you used to mixing and testing saltwater/salinity. Also just for experience. But if you want to go forward check out www.about.com salt water aquariums and this forum is useful below

Here is a link that might be useful: reef central forum

Thanks for the links! that's very helpful.

reefcentral.com is a great site for reef tanks (the best imo, I'm a paying member!). Usual estimates for cost are about $25-$50/gal for a basic setup including liverock but no other critters. Reefs are NOT cheap. Even when done on the cheap they cost a small fortune. They are also one of the most difficult setups for a beginner. Not impossible, but very hard. You will have a LOT to learn. I'm not trying to scare you off, I love reefs. I just want to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before you take the jump. If you want to do this, start reading. Read, read some more, then read some more. Don't rush.

I had a 125g and 92g reef until Hurricane Charley wiped me out. They're a money and labor pit, but they were by far the most rewarding tanks I've ever had.

My nick over at reefcentral is discocarp, feel free to pm if you have a question or something you don't want public. :P

some time has passed since your original post and i wondered how your aquarium is coming along.

To answer ur q's: do not be afraid of marine/reef tanks. many are, but no need to be. i have had one off or on for many years and they are very rewarding! as for not killing animals, you will have to learn to accept this fact, it is painful, and can be expensive, but it happens even to old hands. start w/less expensive, hardier fish and upgrade as experience grows. Marine fish keeping is more expensive, there is no way around that either. you received an estimate of about $25 per gal and i feel that is reasonable. a 20-30 gal tank is not very large, so dont overload it and tax your filtration system - it will cause a multitude of problems, extra work and be very frustrating! i personally would not recommend starting w/a brackish tank if your goal is a reef tank - but i would highly recommend a saltwater fish only tank first. this way you are already halfway where you want to go and you will gain invaluable experience in saltwater keeping. there are a couple of things you need to be aware of with reef tanks (ok, many...but i assume u are doing all that recommended reading - lol): mixing vertabrates w/non-vertrabrates can be a very risky business - be very careful of the verbrates you put in w/live rock and corals. when i first ventured into invertabrates, i purchased an incredible purple urchin. my niger would give it no rest, carting it from one end of the tank to the other trying to flip it over; in the meantime, the urchin cut a swath across my lovely new corals, purchased at the SAME TIME! no one in the shop had told me that the coral was food for the urchin! and obviously, i had not done my homework first. Also, most 'cures' for fish will kill your invertabrates. there are ways to deal with that but it is more stressful for the fish. if the reef aspect is what you desire most, i would consider going ahead w/your corals and live rock and only adding one, maybe two, reef-compatible fish (a lionfish would be one excellent choice for this) - these type tanks can be breathtaking. if it is the variety of fish, with invertrabrate interest you seek, i would lean more towards anenomes and clowns, as healthy anenomes can easily be removed from the tank for purposes of medicating the fish.

woes - thanks for the links! as i moved from fla to tex my tank sitting in the garage, i hope to set up again my the end of the year. i'd like to upgrade old systems first so this link will be helpful.
Jo

Yep to all of the above.......I wanted to get into SW as well, and of all things I choose to start with was a 2 gal Pico reef tank, which has been up and running for about 2 months now and is doing just fine.....The 2 gal pico setup is loaded with inverts and this past week we added a single fish..a Neon Goby. I got my pico tank, lights (39 watts 50/50 ) and filter at a super low clearance price, from local LFS that had a heap of stuff for picos but had no luck in selling them as everyone wanted larger setups, so he just about gave the stuff away.......Anyway next to filtration lights will be one large expense if your gonna do it right. That old saying about you can't fit a bushel in a peck, well looking at my pico setup that statement certainly does not hold true as its just jam packed and doing fine, and has been relatively easy keeping.

Currently setting up a 10 gal AGA with a Eclipse hood modified with more lights, and working on hood and stand and 40 gal sump for our new 90 pre-drilled tank, which I hope to get and operating in the next month or two, just as soon as I can afford the lights I want........

If your able to do DIY stuff you can save lots of $$$$ in the SW world.

re: "That old saying about you can't fit a bushel in a peck"

this generally refers to fish not corals/live rock as fish produce much more waste than corals. experience has taught me to go easy on fish in an invert setting, esp. the more delicate (and expensive)inverts. water quality must remain prime and stable for healthy corals.

kirap - would love to see this tiny world of yours! can u post a pic?

woe - finally registered/lurked at that site u posted -- great site! ty again

No problem, Some UK/ european sites are awesome (- the language barrier). I found an awesome book on the subject put out not too long ago. It had alot of pics along with detailed info on setup (type of tank, parameters, filtration) most of the setups that where most appealing to me anyway, had alot of DIY filtration sump style w/ refugiums. Most use a protien skimmer. I would be interested to follow your progress and know your setup procedures as well as equiptment. Maybe start a thread for it. I'm sure it would be full of usefull info. When I get the title of that book and find some of those other links I'll post if you want. PS the UK/European ones are a pisser to lurk, they are very passionate about the subject. Good Luck.

woe-
kirap has gotten me interested in doing a 2 gal reef til i set up my tanks again. i read on one site that many of these tiny tanks have no external filtration, using only live sand and crabs for cleaning -- wow! that bowled me over. now i need to go back and see what they say about air flow for such a small world. my first foray into sw was with a 55L + fish, so this all was quite surprising to me. funny how one gets used to doing things a certain way. i've got filtration gadgets out the ying-yang. LOL