Long over due update....
Long over due update....
I happy to say fish have been in the tank since 4/6/12! It has been a long process, but I'm extremely happy to have life swimming in the display tank again.
To cycle the tank, I purchased the proper ammonia from Ace hardware and dosed to get the cycle going. I don't have the exact amounts and dates in front of me (ask if you want specifics), but I recall it took 7-10 days for the ammonia loving bacteria to get to the point of dosing 1/4 cup ammonia in the evening and then 24 hours later having a 0ppm reading. The 1/4 cup would spike the ammonia level to ~4ppm and I guess that's for approximately 400 gallons. It then took another 7-10 days of dosing a 1/4 cup ammonia per day to get my nitrite loving bacteria to convert it to nitrate. My nitrates read off the charts of my API test kit (to be expected since I kept dosing ammonia). I performed a 200 gallon water change and it dropped the nitrates somewhere in the ballpark of 160ppm (still at the highest measureable level using the API kit). I waited a week or so, and then performed a 300 gallon water change, and that dropped the levels down to 40ppm. That was close enough for me, as I had a bunch of fish coming in, so I moved the following fish into the display tank on 4/6/12:
Goldflake angel ~3.5"
Majestic angel ~4"
Emperor angel ~3"
Potter's angel ~2"
Flame angel ~1.75"
Multicolor angels x 3 1@2.25" and 2 @ 1.75"
Flamehawk
Ocellaris clownfish
Fowler's tang ~4.5"
In terms of the larger angels, all of them are doing well together. You'll see some occassional posturing between them, but that's about it. For the dwarf angels, the flame angel is the low man on the totem pole. If I can, I'd like to try and catch it and move it into another tank so it can fatten up. That will help it hold its own.
I have my 75 gallon off of the main system and in there I have the three survivors from the initial ich outbreak; desjardini tang, hippo tang and foxface. I added the achilles in with them at the same time and planned to use the achilles as the "canary in the coal mine." I figured if they spent a couple of months together in the 75gal without ich returning, then my treatment protocol was successful. Time will tell, but at this point, everything looks good.
In terms of QT, I still have a bunch of fish going through the process, with hopes to move all the fish from the basement to the display tank in early July. I had a pair of Red Sea Regal angels in QT for 5 weeks, but they didn't make it. One came in with some fuzzy marks on its fins, and I immediately treated with metronidazole for 5 days and that seemed to work well, but on day 6, they broke out with ich and I immediately began copper treatment. The never pulled through the treatment, and by far, these were the toughest fish I ever had to get started eating. In the end, they would eat shaved scallops, clams and shrimp, but never enough to make me feel happy they were "in the clear." If I ever attempt them again, they will be the only ones I have in QT at the time.
The other fish I have going through various stages of the QT process are:
Convict tang ~2.5"
Powder blue tang ~3"
Yellow tang ~3.5"
Purple tangs x3 (an impulse buy and we'll see what happens when added to the DT) all are ~2.25"
Black onyx clownfish x2
Flame hawkfish x 2
That about sums it all up. Hopefully, I can get some decent shots of the display tank. It's currently FOWLR and it will likely stay that way until I can afford LED lights (late fall if I'm lucky).
I'm hoping to have mine done at the beginning of next year but my major purchases are going to be lighting and water movement so I completely understand! 
... I'm one lucky guy! She knows that if there is another tank (and bigger house), the next tank will be able to comfortable house full size blue spine unicorn tangs and multiple achilles tangs! It's quite the dream, but I'm going to enjoy this one for a long time!
