Marine help

[Missmuffet28]

Sorry this is long but please bear with me i didnt want to drip feed
Last night picked up a betta lifespace 90 second hand it came with living rock/sand, a clown, a yellow tailed blue damsel and a couple of hermits it cost peanuts really we were thinking of buying one new in our local store and would have cost 5-6 times as much!
The skimmer doesn't appear to be working which was a bit annoying as I did ask the chap was everything ok I didn't mind if it wasn't for the money but would have liked to have known as I have no experience with marine so don't know if I'm doing something wrong! There was no heater but I have put the one from my massive community fresh water tank in there for now the fresh water tank will cope a good few days without it!
And no food for the poor little blighters they look real hungry and even through the stress of moving if I go near the tank they come to the surface wiggling their little faces for grub!
Now you ask why haven't I researched all this before hand... Well I didn't want the tank it's not mine I'm happy with my freshwater community! it's dp's but as usual he had to go work after getting it home leaving me to set it back up and has left me to sort out the little niggles today
So my question is does anyone have experience with this particular tank should I just go get the replacement skimmer or a different skimmer? And what have you done with the filtration system? A quick look online suggests that the skimmer and filter system are poo (for want of a better word) and most have modded them for the better, what have you people done to yours?

Oh and more importantly what should I get the poor buggers to eat??! I begrudge asking in my lfs the opinions differ so much person to person in that shop you just end up with nothing, please help me!

[EauRouge]

Urk, I know next to nothing about marines, sorry. I know people that have run marine tanks without a skimmer but I think it depends on the amount of live rock you have. Maybe try a fish forum? Fishkeeping.co.uk is a good one, or UR- I found this on UR that might help.

[Missmuffet28]

Thanks for reply I'm on a few forums actually forgot about those haven't really used them since I was a beginner which is naughty I guess cos u can never know too much! I just prefer to learn from experience and mistakes (too lazy too look stuff up every time!)

The two amigos seem happy at the moment iv decided I will wait until dp gets home his tank he can research/pay for the necessary bits and bobs he needs, like you say I have read some people don't bother with skimmer so I figured they would be ok for the 8 hours at least he best hurry and get a heater though I'm not sacrificing my water babies for his, hell no!!!

[Missmuffet28]

Oh and that link was one of the exact pages I bookmarked hehe!!
Looks a good site will probs join that one too!