The cost really depends on what you want to keep and exactly how much you want to spend. I wont lie and say you can do it really cheaply because to be honest unless you have a lot of equipment laying around already its going to cost you a fair bit to set up. I'm going to assume (maybe wrongly) that you have kept tropical fish before and know about the nitrogen cycle (so i wont explain it) if you dont though just say.
What you need to think about is:
What size tank do I want (bigger is always better if you can)?
Do I just want to keep fish (normally fish only with live rock - FOWLR) or fish and corals (reef)?
If I go for fish will I got for big preds or peaceful fish. If I go for corals will I go for soft corals or SPS/LPS corals?
How much am I willing to spend on it?
Not easy questions to answer really when you are just starting out and maybe don't really know what you want. most people start off on the FOWLR route, this is cheaper because you dont have to worry as much about water flow or buying expensive lighting for the corals. However lots of people then get into soft corals which means upgrading the lighting and flow. If you then get into LPS/SPS corals you have to worry even more about the lighting and flow (and if you get REALLY into it you are then into the realms of calcium reactors, phosphate reactors, etc, etc).
What I would suggest first is looking though all the journals on here to see how everyone else has got started and to get an idea of what you like the look of. Look at online marine aquatic shops as well to see if there is any particular livestock you like the look of. Also have a read through all the pinned topics as there is good information there as well on getting started.
Assuming you want to go for a 30g tank with soft corals you need (at the most basic):
Tank - Say second hand £200?
Minimum of 2 tubes of T5 lighting (4 would be even better but can get away with two if you are careful on what you stock). no idea maybe £100 new
Sand - £10
Liverock - probably the most expensive part. Need about 12kg for a 30g tank which around here will cost you about £120 you could go half live rock and half base rock which cuts the costs a bit but still expensive. The live rock is basically your tanks filtration method.
Powerheads for water movement - need at least X20 the volume of the tank so that would be maybe two 300gph powerheads. Three of these would be better. £45 for 3 cheap maxijets.
Salt - umm about £40 for a bucket (cant remeber price of the top of my head)
RO unit (can buy RO water from your LFS but it doesnt take very long for an RO unit to work out cheaper) - £60
Test kits, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Phosphate and PH are also very useful. £40
Refractometer or hydrometer (I find the refractometers easier to read and use. Accuracy is about the same as well unless you buy a really expensive refractometer). £20
Heater £10
Additional: Say £30 for these and a few other bits I probably missed
Bucket for mixing salt walter
Powerhead to put in bucket
heater to put in bucket
Container for storing RO water
first batch of fish food
So a total to set up: £635
This is a VERY rough guess based on prices near me. You can cut the cost a LOT by buying second hand on the likes of ebay and aqua classified. Best bet would be to find someone that is selling their tank with the liverock and equipment included as you can get some real bargins (like all of the above for less then £300). You really need to shop around a lot to get the best deals.
Livestock:
This is where it can get even more expensive. for your clean up crew (hermit crabs and snails which eat algae, left over food, etc) your probably looking at about £40
Average fish price for a common fish is about £12-20
Uncommon fish can go for anything from £50-300
Average price for a common invert (ie a cleaner shrimp) is about £12-15
Average price for a soft coral is about £15-30
Average price for an LPS coral (could keep some of these under t5's) £20-45
For a 30g you could spend a whole lot of money on livestock. My 14g nano to set up from scratch cost me maybe about £900 in total including livestock (probably more than that but I dont like to work it out to accurately
). This was all direct from my lfs though so could have been done a lot cheaper.
For ongoing running costs electric is a big one. 4 T5 lights on for 10-12 hours a day can eat a lot of electric. My tank at the moment is going to cost me about £200-300 a year to run on electric. Other then that though I have the RO unit so no cost there. I have enough salt for a years worth of water changes so its only fish food that I need to pay out for (and buying more corals and fish
).
It really isn't cheap. I would say if you are careful and hunt for bargins you could get a basic second hand setup for £300 or less. If you have a tank already that helps and just look for someone selling LR cheap. Also look for local reef clubs near you. These are a good place to swap coral frags with other people and it is a good way to stock up your tank without a lot of expense (sadly i have NO reef clubs within 200miles of me
).
A fish only with liverock setup costs less but unless you are only interested in the fish its a good plan to think about getting at least some soft corals as you will only end up wanting to upgrade later on
Hope that gives you an idea of it. despite the cost I would say it is worth every penny. I used to keep tropical FW fish for years before I got into marine tanks about a year ago. Now I have taken apart my high tech planted tank (which took a lot of time, effort and money to set up) to fill it with salt water
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