Noob ... is this good to start with?

So, I got into this hobby because I've always loved saltwater aquariums and the way they look with the bright beautiful looking fish in them. But, I always thought it was way too expensive to get into, now however, with close to $1000 into my 75g freshwater aquarium I'm starting to realize that SW is just not really much more expensive than FW. I've been lurking/reading everything about SW and I also bought The Marine Aquarium Handbook by M.A. Moe Jr. (and read the whole thing in less than 2 days). that I can on about 10 different forums (I just actually found this one though) and I was hoping to run my future plans by the forum and see what you all thought and get your input so that I can make this as successful/inexpensive as I can on my first attempt.

36 or 46 gallon bowfront (30"L x 15"W x 21"H , 36"L x 16"W x 24"H respectively)


( I need to know what kinds of lighting I should use (the kinds of coral I would like will be listed below the fish))



Eheim ECCO External Canister Filter 2234


Hydor THEO Heater 200 Watt


American Marine Pinpoint Salinity Monitor


Prizm Deluxe Skimmer, Up to 40 gallons, CD-14412


CPR CS90 Overflow Box


Berlin Sump BS-1, 23 inch x 12 inch x 14 inch


Eheim 1260 Pump


Hydor Koralia 2 Circulation Pump/Powerhead UL 600 gph


Coralife Digital Thermometer


Captive Purity Refractometer
AquaticLife™ Four Stage RO/DI Professional Water Purification System - 60GPD Deluxe


Tropic Marin Pro Reef Sea Salt



Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Saltwater Liquid Master Test Kit


Captive Purity 35 GPD Deluxe RO Filter System - Clear Canisters

Drs. Foster & Smith Select Fiji Premium Live Rock(appx. 70 lbs. worth, I think)


Florida Live Sand (not sure how much I need)

If anyone has any other suggestions please feel free to give me your input because as much as I want a beautiful, colorful, vibrant aquarium ... I want to make sure that the fish that are eventually inhabiting my tank have the best/longest lives possible. And please let me know about the substrate because I've read that the LS is so much better than the packaged sand, is that true?

Crabs/Snails:
7 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
15 Mexican Turbo Snails or Margarita Snails or Zebra Turbo Snails
27 Dwarf Red Tip Hermit or Dwarf Yellow Tip Hermit or Dwarf Zebra Hermit (Hawaii)
2 Abalone or Banded Trochus Snails or Turban Snails
2 Spiny Star Astraea

Coral:
Silver Branch Pumping Xenia
Regular Pumping Xenia
Starburst Polyps
Colony Polyps
Cauliflower Colt Coral
Taro Tree Coral
Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral
Spaghetti Finger Leather Coral

Inverts:
2 Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp
3 Hawaii Feather Dusters

And here are my lists of fish ...

Must haves:
Ocellaris Clownfish (I would like to get 1 or 2 depending on if I can have one with the B&W Clown)
Black and White Ocellaris Clownfish ( 1 depending on the first clown)
Clown Goby, Green (1 or 2)
Firefish, Purple (1 or 2)
Six Line Wrasse

Would like to haves:
Kaudern's Cardinal
Fridmani Pseudochromis
Court Jester
Bicolor Pseudochromis Goby
Coral Beauty Angelfish
Royal Gramma Basslet
Green Mandarin

Would like to have but not neccesary:
Long Tentacle Anemone
Pincushion Urchin, Blue Tuxedo
Red Sea Star
Spiny Sea Cucumber, Green w/Pink & Yellow

Now, here's the deal in the end I would like my tank to only be about 80-90% stocked because I would like to have a lot of color swimming around in the tank but, more importantly, I definitely want the fish to have enough room to swim comfortably. So, with that being said, can you please let me know which fish combinations will give me the best results for my tank (and for a first-time SW aquarist).

Thank you for all you help that you can give me, in advance,
Brian

well canister filters can be a pain. I run one and you have to do weekly maintenance on it and I mean every week. If you skip a week it can really mess with the water quality. The best and easiest filter is live rock and a good skimmer. 1 to 2 pounds of live rock per gallon. The skimmer you listed isnt the greatest. I have never had one however a bunch of people on here have and didnt like them. They are hard to set and you have to adjust a bunch. Look at the octopus skimmer line. From what everyone says they are the best bang for the buck. As far as reef tanks go there isnt a magic solution for every tank. Each tank is gonna be different and what works for some doesnt mean it will work for others. Personally I am on a very tight budget so I make up for that with a lot of hands on maintenance. It works for me, I like tinkering with my tanks. As far as lights go you should go either T-5 or MH or a combo of that. Shoot for at least 4 watts per gallon, more would be better. The biggest advice is go slow and research until you know it like the back of your hand. If you fall in love with a certain fish and it says 90 gallon tank recommended. Then just replace recommended with only or above. In a smaller system it just wont work and you will be just throwing money away. Anyway sorry so long a reply have fun and welcome to the best forum on the planet.

Oh by the way the fish and corals you listed look ok for the size tank you are gonna get. However I think you will be a bit crowded with that many fish. One of the biggest differences in salt and fresh you cant have as many fish. The corals should be fine just buy small and watch them grow. Then you can learn all about fragging. Stay away from anemones at least for a year. You will find out they are little time bombs waiting to go off in your tank. Really I think they are best in big established systems or in species tanks.

Hello and welcome to the site, glad to have you...I 100% agree with Ted. The most important thing to remember is to take your time and research before you purchase...and if you don't know something or just don't understand, feel free to ask.

+1 Ted.

You might want to look into a better skimmer to.From what I understand about those Prizm skimmer,they dont do much.I think you'd be better off and spend less money in the long run by going with something like an Octopus skimmer,or even an ETSS Reef Devil skimmer.
And Welcome to the site.

Welcome to the site!

+1 Everyone

• Put the $$ saved from buying a canister filter towards some Live Rock or towards a better protein skimmer.
• You'll want to purchase a stronger heater as well, or just multiple smaller ones.
• Koralia's are great power heads, but you'll need more than one. 2 or 3 powerheads would be nice in your tank. I'd also go with the K3's instead of the 2's for some real water movement. Plus it'll give your fish something to swim against.

Welcome Brian to Living Reefs. The advice listed above is great. Just remember the two of the most important keys to this hobby is patience and research. Do plenty of it and never make a decision too quickly. If you don't do your homework, then you'll find yourself buying and re-buying equipment and other things. Good luck with your new adventure.

Hi Brian!
Skip the canister filter. It's just trouble waiting to happen, and is a pain to keep clean. Instead, get a better skimmer. I speak from experience -- the Prizm is pretty much a piece of crap. You should look to get a skimmer rated at twice your tank size. I recommend the Octopus brand. They are great skimmers and there's really not that big of a price difference between an Octo and a Prizm.

Next, in saltwater you will be limited to approximately 1 fish per 10 gallons of tank size, give or take a fish. Also, you will not be able to keep more than one type of clown in the same tank.

Thank you everyone for all your quick replies. I'm still only in my planning research phase for my future aquarium, I've bought 5 marine aquarium books and I'm reading everything I can on the internet before I do anything. I probably won't be actually setting anything up for at least another 4 months till I do feel comfortable that I'll know somewhat what I'm doing. I have a lot of trouble when I started my FW aqariums because I didn't know what I was doing, and I lot several fish because of it. I'd like to avoid that if I can this time.

I realize that I had a lot of fish on my list, And I don't plan on getting all of them, only probably 5 of them. When I was looking at the fish, I tried to pick only the ones that were recommended for 30 gallon or smaller tanks, so I think they should all work. Thanks for the advice on the skimmer and power heads, I'll have to change them.
Thanks everyone for the quick replies, this definitely is the best forum that I'm a member of (and it's only been like 8 hours). And thanks for reading both of my really long posts.

Brian

Yeah saltwater fish are EXPENSIVE to kill!! We all know that all too well