A proteing skimmer is not needed for ever saltwater tank, it's reccommended. But not need, nor is a chiller unless you have a large tank.
In all actuality setting up a saltwater tank isn't as dificult as everybody says it is. Reefs are hard (and time consuming), but if you're looking to set-up a FWLRO (fish with live rock only) tank, it's actually not that hard so long as you know how to cycle a tank and have the right things.
For instance, to set up a saltwater FWLRO tank all you need really is:
The tank
Heater
Filter (preferbly a canister filter, unless you have a sump with resides underneath the stand to hide all your equipment)
Protein skimmer (if disired, not a nessesity, but it is reccommended)
Live rock (1lbs per gallon)
Live Sand (I usually go with 1lbs per gallon aswell)
and the lighting system (normal floresents work fine, but some people like the lights that give off a blue spectrum.)
Do exactly what you'd do with a freshwater tank in terms of cycling then add some fish.
There are many variables with a saltwater tank and I am by no means an expert as I have only about 6 months of experience in this field, but the initial set-up and maintainance of the tank is time consuming and costly, dependent on your retailer.
I would highly reccommend giving it a shot even if it's a small 20-30gallon tank (they say that nano tanks are harder to take care of due to the water quality issues you may have, but if you're diligent and actually make the effort, there's no reason it won't work.) My dealer where I am sells LR $5/lbs. Not a bad price, but you need atleast 1lbs per gallon like I said.
Read over some of the pinned topics, they're well worth the time to read as they cover all the basics with you. If you need more information remember there's always the internet, but don't trust everything you read as people generally will tell you information off of their personal experience and it may be biased.
