what kind of tang does your friend have in there? tangs get too big to be put in a 30g tank and 6fish sounds way overstocked for that size tank, also no one said you couldnt keep some low light softies like certain mushrooms and things like that but if you are trying to keep any kind of sps or an anemone then the T8 WILL NOT work, believe us we are trying to save you money in the long run if these are the types of things you are wanting to keep then you have to get the better spectrum lighting anemones and sps are the most light demanding organisms we keep in aquariums and they need the best you can provide in order to thrive, there are other areas where you can scrounge around and save but lighting is really not one of those areas if you are already wanting to keep sps and you get the T8 system that money will just be wasted once you get those corals in your tank and realize that its not sufficient, what kinds of corals does your friend have, there are kinds that are ok in lower lighting but you would have to take this into account when thinkng about stocking, also some corals such as gorgonians dont require lighting at all and i think the orange ones are very attractive so you could look into something like that as well and like anthony said finding used stuff is a great way to get good quality items for cheaper prices GOOD LUCK
oh an this is the very reason i put my reef tank on hold was because of the cost of everything and time required but if you find good deals and take things SLOW you can create an awesome reef tank that THRIVES
someone showed me a really nice one that wasnt that expensive but now i can remember what site it was on but im sure you could find something like that if you searched online, it was like 30 or 40 for the fuge but then i think you still had to buy pump for it.....