Tank - Full Summary

My reef was set up February 6, 2011. It's a 400g custom-made Starphire glass reef-ready tank by Marineland. The footprint is 84" x 36" x 30" with an external overflow at one end that is hidden behind a full sheet of black acrylic, providing five 1.5" drains to the sump underneath.




The sump is 58" x 31.5" x 17" and has a full length refugium zone. It holds a Euroreef protein skimmer, a Nextreef biopellet ...

display tank: Glasscages.com 72" x 18" x 24"
sump: Glasscages.com 36" x 12" x 16"
skimmer: Tunze DOC 9010
chem. filtration: BRS Single GFO Rx, passive GAC
return pump: Rio+ 3100
in-tank circulatio: 2x Koralia EVO 1400
lighting: 2x 96w actinic PC, 2x 96w 10K PC
livestock:
-120 lbs LR
-1" CaibSea Special Grade Reef Sand
-2x Valenciennea puellaris
-1x Zebrasoma ...

Couple of weeks ago it was time to break down the 150G in my parents place and move the fish and some of the rocks to my sump...
Was shocked to see the amount of detritus my sand and rocks trapped despite 50x tank volume flow.
Another shock was to not find a single bristleworm or critter in my DSB. Could this be the cause of my nitrates struggle lately? tank was only moved (sand cleaned 1.5 years ago)
Found 1 10 inches long Eunicid (sp?) worm in a big rock which could explain ...

Well I recently started doing some remodeling in my apartment and I thought that I would start undertaking some major upgrades to my aquarium. My life is extremely hectic with work and my family so I am investing some time in getting my aquarium into the most functional automatic state possible so I can enjoy it rather than neglect it due to other time consuming tasks. That being said I wanted to keep a thread in regards to my trials and tribulations in hopes to share my experience with everyone ...

My wife's cousin joined the military a few years ago and left his aquarium for his parents to care for. However, his parents wanted nothing to do with taking care of it. Soooo... when I heard that I could acquire a 125 gallon tank, stand, sump, skimmer, powerheads, and lighting for free; I jumped on the opportunity! All I had to do was rent a trailer, break it down, and transport 2 hours to my house.

It was July and the hottest day of the year. Luckily, I didn't have to carry stuff ...