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Hi Jdub
the advantage with natural seawater is you get the life and plankton in the water which then populates the intertidal zone in the sump and the DT. Although NS is not an option for many its a great way to establish and support the system. I can pick up a 1000 litres and run it through the tank exiting through the skimmer which means no buckets or hassles. The intertidal/dark zone contains processes and bacteria that are not present in standard sumps or reef keeping lore, but is present in the sea. I believe this is crucial to a successful fish tank and corals love it. I agree 100 % in keeping them all as happy and disease free. Its all a challenge and by no means perfect but when you are keeping 30 fish in a 5 foot tank you need really good filtration. My advice to the op is to start up again with some hardy damsels and go from there. If they arent surviving there are bigger problems with the op setup which may be easy to identify = start by looking at current flow and basic parameters. leave the ich susceptible fish species for down the line and just go one step at a time.
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