Any Arduino folks here? Work project content....

Part of my job in R&D is to create demos for our chemical products. I'm working on one now that I think is going to require me to jump into Arduino and I'm looking for some guidance.  I've looked at Arduino in the past but never gotten started. If you build with them and can recommend any good starter info / kits / etc I would be grateful. I'd also like some opinions on wether or not you think the project lends itself to the architecture.

The project:

I have a 1"x36" clear polycarb tube mounted vertically that will fill with our liquid cleaner product from the bottom up. As the level increases I want to turn on lights progressively up the tube until it hits a top marker and you get a strobe and buzzer. Think slot machine jackpot. My plan is to use a fishing float in the tube carrying a magnet, and use a series of 3 to 5 small hall effect sensors mounted to the back of the tube (so they are fairly hidden.) Run the sensor inputs into the Arduino and use its outputs to turn on the different lights and finally the strobe/buzzer/whatever. Sound feasible?

I've got a couple months to make this work, but it will have to work repeatedly with a novice operator on a stage in front of thousands of our biggest customer's employees. For 2 days straight at a trade show in Vegas.  And I have to build 2 of these tubes to make a it a race between our product and a competitor.  

And then I have to build a second duplicate "race rig" for use at our booth.

I got one of the starter kits on Amazon. I've only done a few of the "lessons", so I couldn't offer much advice on how to do it, but from what I've read about arduino, what you're hoping to do sounds very possible. 

Once you get one 'rig' up and running, repeatability shouldn't be a problem, nor would making duplicates and s l o w e r models. 

For beginners, the Arduino UNO is a good place to start.   Most clones are fine, but some have issues with USB drivers and can be problematic to setup.  Yiu can source a lot of low cost accessories on ebay or amazon but most of the stuff comes with zero documentation.  I have found Adafruit sells  decent stuff for a few bucks more than ebay but everything Adafruit sells has on-line documentation.  

I don't know Arduino yet but I do know you want reed switches not hall effect sensors.

I don't see anything in your description that makes me think a microcontroller is required at all.  Why can't the switches (with appropriate relays or transistors) control the lights and buzzer directly? 

In reply to APEowner :

Agreed. Sounds like a microcontroller is just adding unnecessary complication. 

I’ve built similar things for work/fun. I think Arduino is actually the easiest approach here.

Start with a starter kit from Adafruit or Sparkfun that leads you through a few example projects with various sensors and outputs. It should take you a couple of days to build all of their example projects and get up to speed if that’s all you do.

(Personally, I prefer Sparkfun but both shops are very good. Since, it is for work, don’t try to save $20 by going with unreliable No-name Chinese stuff from Amazon/eBay, they will cost you in time/frustration)

Afterwards, google around for other people who’ve posted builds using the same types of sensors and outputs, copy and modify their code.

Done.

I've bought stuff from Adafruit a couple times and they seem like a good company to deal with.