Looking for ideas...

[mrwilson]

I'm sure this isn't what you'd like to hear, but having had a 30-gallon saltwater tank years ago, I swore to myself that the next time I kept a saltwater tank it would be as big as it could be. That was a fish only tank, and I still found it very difficult to maintain. Everything would be going along fine, and then every once in awhile, something would happen and my fish would all be dead within hours.

As you may already know since you've been reading about this for awhile, the more water volume, the less of a chance for something to go wrong. Tiny changes in a small tank mean big ammonia spikes, ph and temperature shifts, etc. The more water volume, the more stable the system, and therefore the best chance for success. I would highly recommend that you wait until you can go at least 75. Although a bigger setup is more expensive, in some ways it could be seen as a better long-term value, because you will have a better chance of keeping your inhabitants alive (and therefore not having to buy more all the time), and hopefully, thriving.

One thing I would recommend is to monitor this forum and the selling forums for good deals on equipment. There are many deals to be found. The only thing I have purchased from an LFS or from an online store is live inhabitants, plus a few small miscellaneous things like heaters, etc. Everything else I've bought used, at huge discounts over new.