While the idea of "trying to do something just to see if it can be done" might be challenging to you, ultimately IMO this is the wrong hobby to do it in. Could you set up a cheep SW tank yes, would it be worth the effort your talking about to find cheep stuff and DYI T8 lights etc. then personally no.
Lets say you get the tank up and running the way you're setting out to do. In the long run I am certain you will have problems with algae and nutrient spikes. Then your challenge will be having to deal with these problems, are you prepared for that? If you are and you understand that you may need to upgrade some equipment to help with potential problems, then I say go for it and see what happens.
One thing I have to say though is: no skimmer = regular 10% weekly water changes. If you are against water changes and you have the money then buy a good skimmer. Although realize even with a good skimmer you will still need to do water changes (at the very least) once a month.
I don't think you need a lot of money to run a small sw tank set up if you are willing to put in the time to take care of it. If you don't have a lot of time then spend the money on a more self efficient system.
On a side note if you do get really addicted to this hobby then be forewarned of the thousands if not tens of thousands you'll end up sinking into it. I literally went from saying five years ago (to my boyfriend) that I hate the noise of fish tanks and I will never ever have one in my house. Well when he first move in I felt bad for him because he was sad about leaving his 10g fw tank behind at his parents. So I let him set it up in the living room, 3 fw tanks and two years later he said we should try sw. So we started off with a 60g and went about mid point for equipment.
Fast forward 3 years about $15-20 thousand dollars and two 230g tanks later..... Well lets just say if you do get addicted be aware of the amount you never ever would of ever dreamed of spending on salt water fish tanks. For example: This was myself when I was first starting off "What $20.00 for a fish!!!! $200.00 for lighting are you crazy!!!!" to now "$170.00 for a 8" Sohal that's not too bad" "$1500.00 for a six foot 3 250w bulb Giesemann MH light fixture, ok if that's what we need"
*sigh* Still not sure how I went from one state of mind to the other but I tell you, it definitely happens!
Sorry for the long post but I thought I'd share my opinion and experience. Thanks, Laurie