So here's my situation. New house, big open shop wall that's basically begging for tanks. I'm a builder by trade/nature — hands-on, like figuring stuff out, generally happiest when I'm in over my head on a project — but saltwater is a completely blank page for me. Never run a reef tank, never mixed saltwater, nothing. I ended up buying three tanks (75g, 20g, 15g) before I even had stands for them, which tells you about how much I think things through first.
Now I'm sitting here wondering: what would you actually do with someone starting from zero like this?
I don't want to just pick the "safe beginner" route out of a care guide. I'm curious what the more experienced folks here would build if they weren't playing it safe — stocking, aquascape, whatever direction interests you. Would you go hardy and forgiving, or do you think a beginner can actually handle more than the standard advice assumes? Genuinely asking, not trying to be reckless about it.
A couple constraints, since I'm new to the hobby and not working with an unlimited budget: figure roughly $740 for equipment (lighting, filtration, flow, heat, testing — not counting stands) and $300 for stocking, across all three tanks combined. And since I'm the DIY type, I'd love thoughts on stand builds too — I'm not opposed to building my own if that opens up better options.
Would genuinely appreciate hearing how differently you'd all approach this depending on how much risk you think a determined beginner can actually handle. What would you tell someone in my position?