nikki_kaiser
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Readingexcalibur said:Snails are unavoidable in saltwater, sorry... Lol. The are the work horses of the tank. Also, per you're list, you should consider tossing the hydrometer off your list now because you will do it later when you figure out it is a waste of time and highly inaccurate. What you will need is a refractometer.
In my opinion, if you are truly going to get into this, you cannot hold back on you components. This is where a lot of people fail. I like the comment about getting a book, you may know how to keep freshwater, but now your getting into a hole new realm.
The taotronics can keep plenty of corals alive, but I they are not dimmable, you will have a bleaching issue and hurt or kill a lot of corals.
I've heard good things so far about the Taotronics lights as well. I'm converting my FOWLR to a reef and from what I can tell your two most important equipment are probably your lights and protein skimmer. If you will call a few of your local LFS they may have some great deals on used skimmers. As mentioned above, Craig's list is a good source as well!