what about salinity and temp? nems can be pretty picky about those two. Plus, please explain your light fixture a little better. Ive never heard of a 65 gallon t-3 fixture before. I looked up the t-3 bulbs on the web and my guess is that it has something to do with running t-3's. A 24" dual t-5 fixture should fit on that size of a tank, you put two ATI bulbs in it and you can kiss your lighting problems good bye. Are you running a sump/skimmer on this system?