Thanks again everyone for the welcome. This was a double post tho ha sorry.
Annakhil - The 10 gal I just got from walmart. It was a kit so that came with the filter, light hood and some start-up supplies. I have upgraded the lighting to a couple ZooMed 6500K for the plants. Also, my initial plan was to get a larger freshwater tank so I bought a Fluval G3 filter. I ended up not going that route and had the filter just sitting doing nothing so I stuck it in the 10 gal lol a bit overkill but the water sure is crystal!
My first deal from CraigsList was my 130 gal. Like I said, my initial plan was freshwater and I wasn't even thinking about saltwater(I felt very intimidated by it at the time). Anyway, I was up one night browsing the site and I came across this beautiful 130 gal acrylic tank and stand that included everything, aside from live rock, one might need to just bring it home and plug in the power and it would be good to go! It was previously used as a reef tank so it has a nice lighting system already. Not sure exactly what it is but it has four bulbs. Two white and two actinic blue. I think they're compact flourescent. He also threw in a 50 gallon acrylic tank that I now use for a sump in my 280. What topped the deal off for me was that the guy gave me his beautiful mated pair of clownfish in the deal! So as you can see, I could not pass up a deal like that for $350! After I picked that one up it was all saltwater from there.
The 280(actually a 240 gal tank but I include the volume of the sump) I found the same way. Day after day looking for the right deal on CraigsList. Sure enough, there it was. A 240 gallon glass tank and stand! The deal consisted of the tank, stand, canopy, and live crushed coral. This all for only $300! I have since(and I've had it for less than a week) found other great deals on craigslist to get me started. I purchased 70lbs of live rock for basically nothing, a $1500 60" dual metal halide with actinic blue flourescents for $100, two 200 gallon instant ocean salt mix boxes for less than $100, and a few damsel fish to start it up for $15 at petco. Like i said earlier, I am using the 50 gal tank that i got from the purchase of my other tank as a sump for this one. Currently I am just running it with a filter sock then through a sponge and then it returns to the tank. I also purchased a brand new, un-opened, never been used fluval FX5 for $150 that i also have running in the tank.
So far it has been a rewarding experience. I never thought I would get myself into this hobby but now that I'm here I love it!
to AA!
i wish i was that lucky? what came with the tanks? 
