Forgot to mention that the intakes were drilled into the back wall of the tank (rather than using bottom-drilled stand-pipe intakes) 12" up and 15" in from either side. I used PVC T connectors with dual intake strainers on each one for redundancy. They are almost invisible right now, even though the plants have not yet grown in to obscure them.

Thanks for the advice on tank size Tom but unfortunately this one got ordered for me before my advice could be heard. I'm OK with the depth (I've got a 2 foot long set of planting tweezers/tongs) but I would much rather have a 24" deep tank for ease of use.

The 2x250w 8000K MH lamps look fantastic and appear to be adequate for carpet plants at 30" depth. We will see how things go in the next month.