[mophish]

Greetings! I'm new to the forum and wanted to introduce myself. I've been a freshwater aquarium hobbyist for the past 12 years raising mostly african, south american, and central american cichlids with much enjoyment. My wife and I are soon to expect our first child and I wanted get a SW aquarium started in the baby nursery. Due to size limitations I am considering a 30 gal tank. I am not sure what sort of SW setup would be best for that size of tank but I am hopeful I can learn from many of the knowledgeable folks here on the forum to help guide me in my decision.

I've already read a few threads and its pretty obvious to me I'll be spending many more days, weeks, months on here soaking up all the valuable info and hopefully one day I'll be able to contribute and benefit others who are in the same situation I'm in now.

 

[phil_pl]

First off welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new baby!!!!!

As for your new tank idea.
As a general rule in SW bigger is better.
BUT smaller tanks are possible they are just harder when they are your first tank. I personally started my first SW with a 29gal and did very well in my opinion.
You will just have to stay on top of things more so than ever with a small tank like that. I had mine where i would walk by it all the time and every time i would stop and give the tank a look over.
Unlike FW, in SW when your water evaporates it can end up killing your fish since with less water your salinity goes higher and higher.
The first thing you need to decide is if you are going to want to have corals someday in this tank or just fish. If you want corals you will need higher output lighting and a protein skimmer.
I wont go too far into depth just yet but let us know what you want to have and im sure you will find the people here more than happy to help.