Nanos are fine, there is a Nano forum, just below this one. A mod will move this, so no biggy. Most will comment a nano under $250 might be pretty hard, depending on where you live. The tank itself, a powerhead, lighing (if it needs improving), live rock (main filtration), aragonite (or any marine suitable substrate), test kits, refractometer (better)/hygrometer, CUC (clean up crew) then your fish and shrimp, with a maybe coral!
It aint cheap!
Sounds like an ok plan though, no reason why it wouldnt work. If you wanted to just use the standard lighting, you might be able to have a few mushrooms/zoanthids and leather corals. As for shrimp, id be tempted by the Redline cleaner shrimp, or Blood shrimp (depending where in the world you are ofcourse
). Fish could be a wide variety, check out liveaquaria.com, and their nano fish section for ideas of what your interested in :
LiveAquaria, Nano Fish
You shouldnt need to skim, aslong as you undertake some small frequent water changes. This can be done with NSW (natural salt water) or synthetc salts.
Liverock is the main filtration in most of todays marine aquaria. Many find it interesting, as it continas a miriad of life from the ocean. It can be expensive, but theres no real substitute.
