Thanks. Lots of things to think about here.

I've been offered some gorgonians from a friend who has been keeping them for several years with success. Now just because he can keep them doesn't mean I will be so lucky. I'll keep them in the back burner while I get everything else sorted out.

I get the impression that this is going to be similar to keeping a very high light FW but with possibly less leeway on keeping things in order. That's ok since I'm at least more prepared for this than when I first started out in planted tanks. I don't expect everything to fall into place, as if by magic I'd obviously like to make the transition as painless as possible though.

I've been loosely comparing this new setup to the only real high light FW tank I have. A 75g with 6*54w HO T5. I actually find this tank remarkably easy to maintain because I'm so used to it and know it ticks. So this will be interesting to see how they compare. Might be frustrating too, but oh well.

For critters, are snails, shrimp and crabs going to be helpful? I'm asking this because I have been thinking about getting a puffer and it will see those as a food source.

For traces, are we talking about regular Flourish/CSM+B ? I find the thought of adding Fe kind of scary. In my FW tanks, I overload on traces and don't worry about it. This seems kind of different though.

Dang I wished you hadn't mentioned I could possibly half the lighting, Jimbob. Those T5 units are my favorite piece of hardware and it would be a shame to half its potential.