First Salt Tank

[kampo]

I have a 24x24x18inch "cube" I bought awhile back on a deal to use as a salt experiment, but it has ended up just been used as a growout tank for various freshwater groups of fish. its opening up again in a month and might finally do my salt project. Looking to keep this on the budget. here are my thoughts. I've done some research but have no first hand experience.

Setup.

AC110 for Circulation and just sponges and or floss, no biomedia to be cleaned weekly or better. + another powerhead I have laying around for more circulation.
30lb of live rock
Live Sand.

Lighting i'm planning on just snagging a cheap black box. that or DIYing a multichip pendent.

I plan on not going with a protein skimmer, planning on a light stocking and tank isn't HUGE so I think it will be ok.

Stocking i'm planning on just a standard cleaner crew, and fish wise a Gobby/shrimp combo, pair of clowns and maybe a pair of cardinals.

Corals I just want easy cheap ideas this is an area I know a little about but not a ton.

Thoughts/ideas/comments?

 

[Swensos]

When I switched from freshwater to saltwater, one thing I noticed is that the nitrifying bacteria grows wayyyyyy slower. I had to ghost feed and cycle for more than two months before it was really stable enough. I killed a few fish before I figured out to just let the tank stabilize itself as a dirty mess and then do water changes to get the water pristine, rather than dropping fish in as soon as ammonia and nitrites hit zero.