I lucked out to get a 10g IM with the Skyye light used for $50. It had been used for 6mnths for a freshwater tank. It was in excellent condition.
We made a pedestal stand for it out of 2x4's and special grade plywood used to make tractor trailers. This stand is solid and very heavy!
Equipment
10g Im
Stock pump
Spin Stream Nozzle
Skyye Light 10k 50/50
Caribsea black hawaiian live sand
80% dry rock/20% liverock
I cycled the tank with just the liverock, no dosing of anything. The tank took 6 weeks to cycle.
I had a favia brain in the tank because it had been in my 15g but was attacked by peppermint shrimp so I had to remove it. It was in bad shape.
After the first waterchange we added a few hermits and snails.
After a month we added a leather which was a carnation leather. Upon finding out the difficulty in success with this coral I brought it back to the store. I didn't want to take the chance and lose a coral in such a new tank.
My first fish was a purple firefish. it was added about 2 months after start up. It was absolutely beautiful and such a great fish.