[Dingo]

Small sized tanks are not more difficult to care for. On the contrary, everything is proportionately easier.

Many people like to have a HOB filter, not for filtration, but for circulation. It is also a convenient place to stick carbon or phosphate remover when needed. Plan on around a pound of LR per gallon for your filtration. If you keep your bioload low, that will do a fine job of de-nitrification.

One or two power heads in addition to the HOB serve to mix up the currents.

A DSB in such a small tank not only takes up too much precious space, but is of dubious value. I would go with 1 to 1.5" of aragonite.

MH lighting is da bomb. I would go for that as suggested above.

Skimmers are a matter for debate. My preference is to rely on weekly 10% water changes, which is easy for a 10 gallon, not so easy for a 30 gallon. I think that if you go into a small tank with a "no water change" mentality, you are setting yourself up for problems.

Get an oversized heater. You need to make sure that the temperature remains stable.

The single best time saving device on a nano is an autotopoff. It saves you from constantly adding water and lets you go on vacation.