Personally I would keep a deep sand bed in a larger fuge and if your going to do nothing but sps do a bare bottom so that way you can use whatever powerheads in all different type of flow setups.... no need to worry about a sandstorm.... and I would run the lights maybe 6 hours out of the day while your gone. put a piece of shrimp to start the whole cycle process and leave it alone.... just let the wife clean out the skimmer and top off water and let it cycle go through a whole algea boom and let it sit... then when you get back purchase a cleanup crew get the tank up to great parameters.... then start stocking and change the light cycle then....



most important part of this whole hobby is patience....


and with lights personaly I love my 400 watt xm 20k bulbs... I get good growth not speedy growth but my tank always looks so colorful...