I've been waiting to update because I have a lot of changes planned, but I decided I should document where it's at now. I bought a Koralia Nano, which has greatly improved circulation--so much so that the sand is migrating toward the back of the tank. Now that the powerhead in the "sump" section is redundant, I am reconsidering the layout. Having a separate "sump" area probably increases evaporation from the water flowing over the divider. The purposes it serves right now are to maintain a constant water level and hide the heater and aquaclear intake.
The stand is essentially finished. Solid oak and oak plywood throughout. I made a matching one for my wife's 20G FW planted, so our living room is looking much better. I still need to caulk the inside, clean up the electrical, etc. No sump for now, though I have some ideas on how to do it. For now I'll just have a standard 5.5G tank inside the stand for mixing and storing saltwater.
Here's the pictures:
Full tank
Right side
Left side
Full tank with new stand
Right side mushrooms and macro
Centre zoas and moon coral
Left side digitata
That's all for now.
Regards,
Nevin