Over the weekend the sand settled pretty well. There's a thin layer of sand over the glass and powerheads in the tank, though. I'm not sure how to get rid of it all.
Tank after sand has settled
I also bought a full sheet of egg crate and made a kind of guard to (hopefully) prevent fish from jumping out of the tank. When we had our 30 gal reef in Dayton, OH, we lost a yellow watchman goby (Emily's favorite fish) and never knew where it went. When we moved, we discovered the body behind the tank stand. Hopefully, this guard will at least help prevent this from happening.
Fish jumping guard made out of egg crate
In preparation for putting live rock in the tank, I made some rock standoffs out of 3" PVC. They will be used to hold the rock up and provide stability. I want to prevent avalanches that could happen when critters start sifting through the sand under the rock work. I drilled out holes so that sand, water, and creature movement wouldn't be totally hindered by the PVC in the sandbed.
Rock standoff platforms made from 3" PVC
Everything is going pretty well. I have a 500W Titanium heater (made by Azoo) in the sump and it's holding a steady temp of ~80 deg F. The salinity in the system is lower than I'd like. It's around 1.023, but I'd like to get it up to 1.025. I will start regularly testing water parameters sometime this week - especially if I end up getting live rock this week.
