55 Gal tank equipment advise!!

[1968OldsMan]

right now i have a 55 gallon tank that is over run with diatoms, it's about maybe over a month old now with only 2 4 stripe damsels in it i took the rest out and there with a friend doing well in that tank for now. All i have is a Over the tank Filtration unit.
I have Live sand, and such it's a Fish only tank i havent even decided what fish i would like to have in it. I'm asking cause is this enough for my purposes? or should i have more along the lines of filtration units and stuff. I'm in no rush to do anything along the lines of more livestock untill the tank is at acceptable levels. Any advice on fish, filtration and lighting would be great. I'm new on the saltwater scene i've always done just Fresh.

[1968OldsMan]

yeah i have a heater as well i forgot

[Reefland]

I think you should look into a good protein skimmer and drop the unit that you are using now. When you say livesand, tell me exactly what you think is making it "live". Also for lighting, if your going with only fish you could use normal output flourescent lighting however if you really wanted to bring out the colors of the fish you could get a 2 bulb PC or VHO kit.

[1968OldsMan]

i dunno whats making it live sand thats what it said on the bag's when i got them lol They were in water. Supposedly there are organisms in it i was told something like live rock. yeah maybe that over the tank wasn't the best idea in world, lol i was looking at those protien skimmers they are quite expensive not that thats a huge issue i guess if it will keep the fish alive who am i to complain. Any recomandations to be honest i'im not even to sure as to how to hook them up or how they work all that well.

[Reefland]

Well what we consider livesand is not what prepackaed livesand producers consider livesand, which is why I asked. You said in a bag with water, was this something that the store scooped into a bag and sold or something that was sitting on the shelf with priting that sand livesand?

On the protein skimmer, for hang on models I like to suggest the AquaC Remora Pro's with the prefilter/bubble trap. They are plug-and-play and pretty effective for a hang on skimmer.