New to marine: setting up my 26G bowfront

[Corbin]

i dont use any mechanical filters, but i do agree with bluetang, its good for carbon, or floss, say after doing some aqua scaping and sand dust is all in the water.

Live sand is not useless, well live or not... sand is good, a lot of little critters live in there and do a lot of good for your tank.

id say just use a couple powerheads to keep the flow up so the live rock can be your bacteria filter.