{sigh}
Ok folks, lets find a happy medium. Obviously, Cody has his heart in the right place. We have seen this song and dance 1,000 times. It is so rare that anyone begins the hobby in this fashion and has success, that Cody is trying to save the lives of the animals that he thinks you will kill.
However, we can certainly guide you in the right direction. If you commit yourself to reading and learning, you can be successful, IF YOU ARE PATIENT!!
So lets get started. The basics of a marine aquarium are live rock, a protein skimmer, and aragonite sand. The sand needs to be at least 4'' deep, or less than 1'' deep. You need between 55 and 100 pounds of live rock, depending on density. You need at minimum a large hang on protein skimmer model, such as the Coralife or Rea Sea Berlin. The skimmer should be your most expensive piece of equipment, and by far your most important. These are all non-negotiables in the marine hobby. I suggest you spend a lot of time learing the function of each so that you can make an educated buying decision.
The problem with this approach is simple. In this hobby it is not enough to know WHAT to do. You have to know WHY you are doing it. If you don't know WHY, you will quickly have a problem that you do not recognize as a problem. Without this type of knowledge, you won't even know there is something wrong to ask us about.
You also need test kits. At minimum you need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalinity, and calcium. You need a buffer for alkalnity and a supplement for calcium. You need to learn the relationship of pH to alkalinity and calcium and how to correctly interpret the test results and what actions to take.
You will need to learn how to recognize the stages of an aquarium as it matures, so that you can identiy problems. You need to recoginze a diatom bloom, copepods & amphipods, coraline algae, aptasia vs tube worms. You should understand the relationship of the sand bed to nitrate reduction and how it differs from the bacteria bed that cause your cycle (similar to freshwater).
You need to set up a quarantine tank and decide on quarantine procedures. Will you medicate your Q tank or use hyposalinity. Will you acclimate? How long will the fish remain in Q? This requires you to choose your fish in advance so that you can buy them at the appropriate time when Q is empty. This leads to aggression and territorial tendencies to help decide which fish to buy first. Which fish are easy to keep? Which are nearly impossible?
Will you use activated carbon? Do you have an opinion on the risks? Were you aware there are risks? How will you ground the tank? What will you feed? How will you store the frozen foods? Will your fish have special feeding requirements, such as multiple daily feedings? This could require a refugium, depending on species you select.
You know what, come to think of it, we can't find common ground. You can't just throw this tank together as you plan and make adjustments as you go along. It doesn't work that way in the marine hobby.
For the record, keep marine fish has nothing to do with freshwater. If you have a pet elephant will it help you keep a reef tank? No. Same with freshwater. They are completely different hobbies with nothing in common.
Similar Threads 
$400 on Tank Setup 
