wow looks great! as always Richard sends lots of goodies, I know when I opened my box my husband was squeeling louder than me..lol cant wait to see some more pics, your tank sounds really nice dont think i have seen a corner tank that big before.
as far as the sponges go i have had mine i think about 5 months and everything is doing great, i only lost 1 small sponge but my sponge tree and my yellow ball sponge are still going strong..just make sure you feed your tank and they should be fine. congrats and welcome to the gang!