Do You Quarantine?

[GGtank]

Don't worry you don't NEED a sump. It's dead handy and lets you hide equipment and keep a refugium but it is not necessary. There are hang over protein skimmers etc.
I would say go for a larger tank. Unlike popular belief, a smaller tank is actually harder to maintain due to many reasons esp lack of dilution of waste products etc if something dies. Big tanks will be much more stable (and reef tanks are actually fairly easy once you take your time )

Regards to your fish:
Emperors need >200 gallons, no less.
The only reef safe butterflyfish I know of is the bannerfish (Heniochus diphreutes not to be confused with Heniochus acuminatus). I know some people have kept copperbands successfully but they do nip at corals (and kill your feather duster population) and are notoriously hard to feed.
Regarding tangs, never really been my thing, but they need >100 gallons.
In order to keep a mandarin you need a very very mature system, preferably with a refugium where you can cultivate pods in order to feed it. Otherwise you will have to dose live pods/rotifers for the mandarin.

The other fish look fine. Compatibility wise, the chromis will probably kill each other off (they just tend to do that in smaller numbers) but the rest are perfect (with the few pointers on the ones above regarding tank size).

Hope that helps!

 

[Salam]

It's me who wants the sump, I want it all to look pretty and have no ugly equipment anywhere near the main display

Thanks for the info on the fish. I planned on adding the mandarin last anyway, have seen here before that they need very mature tanks. I will ditch the emperor, tang and butterflyfish if they are no good for my plans. Why would the chromis kill each other off? Should I then just get a bigger shoal of them? I have seen them in my LFS and I love them, love how the colouration changes depending on light. Could I add a starfish at a later point when all is mature? I think my son would love that (too much Finding Nemo...).

I'm going off topic here, but I hope you understand that I am learning by asking questions here. I still have time anyway, won't set it all up until I start my new job in September as I need the cash flow to keep a reef going. Thanks anyway about the QTing. That has definitely been answered now we just have to see if we are brave enough for a big reef.