high end brackish water needs

[Terrance]

Yes leave the HOB until you get live rocks. You will be better off doing more water changes (if your tank is small) than getting live rocks IMO. Also if your tank is small, then look into a HOB refugium (such as CPR Aquafuge) to grow some marcoalgae. I'd get the refugium first, then LR. Growing macroalgae and a skimmer helps reduce water change frequency more than LR for your setup. Be sure to clean out the HOB filter weekly.

Also the quality of your skimmer is important. The more expensive skimmers can pull out more waste from the water than the cheap ones.

[Pufferpunk]

Yeah. I wouldn't count on the skimmer for much flow. What fish are in there now? What's the SG?

[kpjenk21]

it's a 30 gal. i have a GSP and a mini clownfish. sg is around 1.020

[RTR]

You will continue to need the bacterial filtration until the LR is well settled into your tanks and can handle the bioload.

LR does need good current/circulation for best function, so water movement will always be needed.

HTH

[Pufferpunk]

30g is the bare minimum for a single GSP. If you're adding any other fish, you MUST upgrade (although I really don't think that clownfish will last...)!

[kpjenk21]

yeah we'll see. going on about 3 or 4 months for the puffer and about a month now for the clownfish, and they both seem content. so we'll see how it goes!

[Nuclear_Glitter]

Check craigslist for a good tank deal. Once you have added liverock and everything, you really don't even have 30 gallons anymore, and therefore should be upgrading. Plus, you have a clownfish, and as PP said you need more room. Also, invest into a few powerheads as they will help you have more current for your liverock.