Finally, livestock.
I'm a big nut about keeping fish - while I enjoy tangs and other large fish, I feel that the native range these fish have in the wild disqualify them from being well-suited for aquarium life. Instead, I prefer to keep fish that are reef-dwellers with small territorial ranges. Of course, this is not always the case, but I do my best to match fish and aquarium.
My preliminary stocking idea is:
Dwarf Pygmy Angel, added last
Yasha Haze + Pistol pair
5-7 Redspot Cardinalfish (
Apogon parvulus)
I'm quite fond of Sunburst Anthias but given their temperment and difficulty in captive care I suspect I'm going to pass. I have a dealer holding 4 Redspots for me as we speak, once I give him the word he'll send them out. The Angel is intended to be the boss of the tank, I've had one before and find them to be well-behaved and entertaining. A Midas Blenny or possibly some Firefish may make it on the list but I'm not sure. I've also considered Fairy or Flasher Wrasses, as one of my LFS gets some beautiful specimens, but the open top makes me a little hesitant.
Inverts are some of my favorite critters for the reef tank, so I suspect I'll have cleaner and peppermint shrimp as well as emerald and porcelain crabs. I love Fromia and Linkia stars but am not sure I want to keep one in a system this small.
Corals will be heavy SPS with some zoanthids, mushrooms and LPS thrown in to keep things interesting. I've got some nice zoanthids and shrooms, but unfortunately due to a number of factors have lost most of my nicest acros, including 2 year old Cali Tort and Larry Jackson Tricolor colonies, a 4" deepwater piece and a few large frag/small colonies that I've had for a while.
Thankfully, there are some really great folks in our local club and several have some pieces waiting in the wings. Once the tank gets up and stable, I don't think it will be a lot of effort to get it up to snuff.