I bought a used tank and stand off c's list. I bought the best filter I could afford, live sand and live rock a heater and picking up the lights this weekend. Saltwater unfortunately is going to be a planned process I can't tell you how long my tank was just sittin here while I was getting all the stuff. Saltwater is definitely not cheap. And you can't just wake up one day and say I'm gonna do a salt tank. Well if you have the disposable funds like that then by all means go for it. But being on a budget I would stay with fresh. Cuz salt is not for a tight budget. Unless like said before you ask for stuff for bdays and holidays. Plus it'll take a few weeks to a month before you can put anything in it. There are pros and cons to fresh and salt. Fresh water is cheap but salt has a wider variety of colorful fish. That being said you can pick up a 10g at petsmart with a hob filter, hood for about 25 bucks also comes with a light but not enough to support a salt tank.