Everybody has their own style of doing things. When you start out stay
simple then tweak things your way.


Agreed.

I'd say for starting out you want to stay above 30 US gallons. Anything
smaller requires lots of attention & when things go wrong it will happen
faster & more severly with a smaller tank.

Agreed, I went 55g for my first tank, and only went to a nano(at my office)
after I was comfortable with reefing.

Protein skimmer removes organics - it's not really "filtration"

I don't use a skimmer, haven't used one ion over a year in either of my
tanks.

Go with Live Rock & Live sand as you major source of filtration.

Yup.

Buy some books & read, read, & read some more. There is so much info & so
much to learn.

There is one more MAJOR thing that you need...PATIENCE.

hth

--
Harald
130 g Skimmerless SW Tank
290 lbs/6" DSB
70 lbs LR
3 B/G Chromis, 1 Tomato Clown, 1 Lawnmower Blenny, 1 Flame Angel, 1 Foxface.

20 gal Skimmerless SW Nano
80 lbs/6" DSB
31 lbs LR,
1 - 3-Striped damsel, 1 Blue Devil, 1 sm. Tang