Welcome to CanReef! I would get started on a tank right away and when it's time to upgrade then do the upgrade. Get your "feet wet" ASAP and gain invaluable experience that will help you become successful moving forward.

Well, the price tags have been kind of shocking so far. I thought $2000 was an adequate budget to get a ricordea tank cycling, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Without opening a can of worms, I didn't think I would need a sump for a ricordea tank. The setups that I have been quoted all seem to be pretty elaborate. The quotes I've been getting for tanks in the 55-90 gallon range from $2200-$7000.
So, is there a simpler way to do this? Should I just pinch my pennies? It's just ricordea with some sexy shrimp. It was my impression they did quite well in nano tanks and the requirements were quite modest.

Those wouldn't be quotes from Concept would they? Cuz my 233G with 100G sump was around $2300. Delivered. Don't seem right to me.

The $7k quote was from concept for a full plug and play package. Just the stand, tank, and sump was $1400 without delivery. The additional fee was everything else.
The lower quote was from big als for a 55 gallon. A 65 gallon would be a $100 more. But still, I thought a ricordea tank that small would be fine with a skimmer, power heads, live rock, and a quality light. I thought $2000 was a reasonable figure to be cycling a 55 gallon- no livestock, just cycling.

Or the 93g cube cycling with live sand and dead rock for 2300. Live and learn I guess

My 90 gallon QT tank with lids was $200
My sump I designed for it was $250
I'm a ex-welder so I'll weld out my own stand, but you can pm The Grizz on here he probably build you one.
Add $200 for plumbing
$250- for a DC pump
$500-1000 for lights
$100 for a couple heaters
500 for a skimmer
200 if you want to run bio pellets

Live rock is $$$ up to 10 a pound
If you buy it used you will save a lot
Look in the buy n sell

Just start looking on the buy n sell and keep picking up stuff
Before u know it you will have everything

Pick up the tank n sump n stand, then slowly gather up the rest

Sumps are good to have on a salt water tank

Good luck

Here is my idea. I have a 90 gallon guppy tank with an overflow leading to a 20 gallon aquarium sump. The water from the sump is pumped up and crack into the tank through a spray bar. It's nothing fancy , sump wise , and the tank is more if a utility tank.
But, I could move the guppies to a new tank and repurpose the 90 gallon for cycling a salt system, adding live/dead rock as I go and use it to get my feet wet and learn. Then when I'm ready, I can go with a more long term setup and already have all the rock and most of the equiptment and such ready to go.
Only thing I'm not sure of is a spray bar return, but I dont see a reason it should be an issue.

Spray bar style return should be fine as long as it's under water as you don't want water splashing over your tank.
even a full bore return works fine.
best if you have a single or couple power heads for more tank water circulating.wether you go dry or live rock it's best to give it the proper curing process.
And slowly add what you like.
Make sure your guppies get a good home:biggrin:

You can certainly have a suitable setup for $2000 all inclusive, but it is not likely to be A 93-gallon custom cube. :)

Are you the DIY type? You can buy a standard aquarium and drill it yourself. Practice drilling a couple $9.99 10-gallon aquariums first. If you can drill one of those cheapo paper-thin-glass tanks without breaking it then you can EASILY drill a bigger tank without breaking it. I've drilled around 40 holes in aquariums and I've only ever broke one 5-gallon with paper-thin glass and one 20-gallon that I was testing to see how fast I could drill it. :o Some aquariums (Hagen comes to mind) sometimes have tempered glass (usually just the bottom of the tank) and you cannot drill tempered as it will shatter. Email the manufacturer before buying. :)

After you drill the tank you can silicone a glass overflow box into the corner, then put acrylic over the glass so you can't see into it. Add some plumbing pieces and you're golden.

Ricordea are certainly simple to keep, but I would strongly suggest a sump if you want seahorses. Seahorses eat a lot of food and are VERY messy eaters (they waste a lot). If you have a sump then you open a lot of better and cheaper opportunities for filtration and skimmers.

Another option is to buy a used setup on Kijiji or even the buy & sell forums here. If you go with a standard size (not a cube) then you will have more options and the price will be lower.

90-gallon complete in Calgary $589.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=105725

50-gallon tank, stand, sump in Calgary $180
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=105711

90-gallon tank, stand, sump in Olds. $300
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=105528

$2000 can go a long way if you spend carefully and spend time looking in the classified sections. To start I'd find a used small tank. For ricordea setup it can be as little as a biocube. But I hate those biocube because it doesn't give you option to upgragde down the road. When I start this hobby I found a used 50 gal tank 4ft length and that was plenty to play with. I seldom buy things new, my liverocks and most of my gears are used and you can score a bargain if you have the patience. With the extra money you save you can splurge on nice corals. What keeps me going is looking at nice stuff growing. I've seen people only have $$ to buy cheap frags but you have to understand that some corals grow really slow especially the nice ones and your tanks will look very empty. For me I'd buy nice corals, grow them, frag them if you can and you'd recover your investment already. I can't stand watching empty or crappy corals in my tank.