New Nano Tank setup help and advice

[diablo243]

Greetings everyone new to the site and getting back into the hobby after many years. When I had my last tank a 55ga Salt it was a fish only tank. I have never had live coral but am looking to have a true live reef in my new Nano tank.

Here is what I ordered:

http://innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/nano16-0302.html

and added:

http://innovative-marine.com/auqa-gadget/spin-stream.html

So my questions are:
1. Live sand yes or no? If yes 1lb per gallon?
2. Live rock yes or no? If yes all live rock or mix of live and dead to seed? Also if yes fully cured? and if so what kind of cycle time should I give tank after initial setup?
3. What filer media to use? Tank comes with 2 media trays that are 3 stage or levels if you will, they include with the tank:

Mechanical Sponges
Activated Carbon Sponges
Phosphate Sponges​

Use them, scrap them or use a combination of those and something else?
4. Protein skimmer yes or no? Everyone I have talked to either via forums or at LFS are that have this exact tank are truly split down the middle whether they run one or not, at 16ga half say no just do water changes, other half say its a must!?!?
5. If you see the back of the tank and the way they have the chambers set up, the filter chamber drops into an up chamber that can be used to house a thermo, skimmer or even a refugium. There is one on each side and 1 will be used for thermo, the other may be used for skimmer, but was thinking of doing a small refug in there, thoughts and or opinions?

Ok so that's it, my tank is due to arrive on Thursday and hope to spend the weekend getting ready and by Sunday have the tank cycling. Thanks in advance for any and all help, advice and opinions! In 24 short hours this site and the people on it have already been amazing!

 

[suicideissleep]

From what I've been told live sand is a waste of money and live rock is a hit or miss might get stuck with stuff you don't want always nice starting fresh letting you tank fully cycle for a month or two with a cheap fish you can trade back into the fish store then once your tank is stable and you feel you can keep your tank ideal than jump into it the hardest part is watching a empty tank gl with ur tank nano tanks are one of the hardest to keep due to swings

 

[suicideissleep]

Also on my 55 I used my over flow as a fuge just stuck little cheato in there and made sure it got light

 

[Zalman]

Live sand is a waste, just buy dry sand and get a scoop of sand from a friend to seed yours. LR is important, but you can just buy dry rock and have someone give you a little LR to seed yours.

 

[Rwinfrey]

Well the skimmer depends on you. Fish load,feeding schedule.stuff like that I can hook you up with your initial water if you like than we can talk ro units I you want I will be home most of the day Monday and will be around a little on sat. I live right by Salem four corners

 

[diablo243]

Thanks for the info everyone, I probably should have stated my intent for the livestock in the tank, I plan on 3 maybe 4 fish at most and would like to start with some hardy easy to care for corals. My goal here is to get back in the game and then move up to a full size tank again. I still have a 55ga kicking around or would even consider something bigger if I found a good deal but that's down the road.

 

[BubbaBoBobBrain]

If you can run a skimmer in one of the sections and a refugium in the other section I would say to run with that and if you can fit some sort of filter sponge somewhere in the mix that would be an added plus. And before adding corals to the tank you might want to check the large levels of the lights to make sure they will sustain life.

 

[diablo243]

Thanks Bubba, that sounds like a winner setup, for the refug, should I just stick in some cheato in there and light it, or should I put a little base sand or some LR chunks as a base to the cheato?

 

[BubbaBoBobBrain]

I would put some rubble in the bottom so that you have a place to grow pods.

 

[diablo243]

Perfect, thanks so much for the help!

 

[BubbaBoBobBrain]

Anytime