Im starting this tank with all dry rock and dry sand. I plan on adding a bit of live sand and some bottled bacteria to start my cycle. Im not sure if I am going to add any live rock or not. The sand bed in the DT will be 4"+ as the main fish will be a colony of yellowheaded jawfish. All of the live rock will be lifted 2" above the sand bed on a pvc frame. There will be 2 fuges. The first is the 55 macro tank on a reverse light cycle. It will have a 4" sandbed. I know some of you have said no less than 6" for nitrate removal. Most of the books Ive read and articles in magazines have stated anything over 3" is enough. Some have even stated that hypoxic layers can form in as little as 3/4" for the anarobic bacteria to remove nitrate. The bottom 1" will probably be mud as well. The other fuge will be a 29 mangrove/macro tank on the same light cycle as the display tank. Since Im not adding any live rock I want to add some of the beneficial organisms. Im sure when I buy my macro from reefcleaners.org I will get plenty of pods. I will still most likely add some of the algagen stuff. I plan on seeding the tank with scrapings of coralline from mt LFS and blasting it through the tank with a powerhead to seed it. The more I read about mysid shrimp the more the idea of them entering the arena of the DT from the fuge appeals to me. I guess I will have to get the pods up and running, then add the mysid and see if they decimate the pod population. OR I may just punt and add live rock and let whatever grows grow. I had planned on not adding any live rock and having the only invaders come in on the macro I buy. I would like to try to control what enters this tank. This may be impossible and I may be acting like a kid trying to filter yellow snow, instead of simply eating the white snow, because i want to prove the people wrong who tell you not to eat yellow snow. I am also contemplating not using a skimmer. Ill own one incase i fail, but Im planning on moving very slowly and trying not to use it.