wasp

You have a couple of options at least, there is a Deltec 500 or 600 which i THINK might fit although I'll measure mine when I get home & double check. Or alternatively a Reef Octopus is taller but can run outside the sump, you can put it behind or beside the tank stand, connected to the sump with pipe.

Weirpro is regarded as cheaper end. Except for ultra cheapo skimmers, most of them come nowadays with their own pump. For the needlewheel ones, you just put them in place, some of them have to be primed with some water, and turn them on.

Either although 3 is often enough. It is not a perfect science because the size of the sump, water throughput, and type of skimmer are all variables. Best plan if you can, is look at a few sumps to get an idea of what works, then do what you think.

Oh a RODI filter, yes, you go. One of the essential investments, plus hold their value well if you ever want to sell.

When you do a FE treatment, you often don't get every last one. A follow up treatment in 10 days or so can get the few survivors, you don't have to worry about the carbon, waterchanges etc on the second treatment as there are hardly any flatworms to release poison. A six line wrasse can help clean up the few survivors also. They don't eat many but if there are only a few FWorms left a six line can do it.

The main purpose of the sump is simply to put the skimmer and other equipment. You don't need any other media in there although some people put some more rock in there but it is not essential. Filter wool is sometimes used to get rid of bubbles but it is better to achieve this by using baffles, as filter wool needs cleaning and if you don't can become a source of pollution to the tank. You will sometimes see people using other media in their sump such as bioballs, coral rubble etc, however in my opinion this is not a good idea. You can have living organisms if you wish, purely a matter of if you want that, some people use the sump to house stuff they can't put in the tank just at the moment. It does mean you would need light though.

You can use a plastic container just make sure it's a good strong one. Best plan is to get your skimmer first, then make sure you set up the sump to accomodate it, plus a bit of spare room you may wish to add more equipment in the future, it's good to have the room if you do. Nearly all sumps are glass or perspex but i used a plastic tub on my propagation set up it was fine. If your skimmer is a type that releases bubbles into the sump, you may wish to fit some baffles between the skimmer and the return pump to prevent bubbles getting pumped back to the main tank, in this case a glass sump is good as glass baffles are easy to silicone in. Return pump, any pump that has enough pressure rating to get the required turnover of water back up to the main tank. Coral for base, you mean rock? If so, get about a kilo of coral rock to each 10 litres of water in the main tank. Read up about curing rock. This will supply the filtration for the tank. Don't put a lid on the tank. Few marine tanks have one because of heat issues plus to get gas exchange at the water surface. Water filter, don't need one in a marine tank, this job is done by the coral rock (liverock), and the skimmer. In fact, cannisters, hang on filters and similar have a harmful effect on a marine tank, save the money it would have cost and put it into a quality skimmer. Test kits, if you plan on growing hard corals you should get a calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium kit. If you want to monitor the cycle you need ammonia and nitrite. For ongoing monitoring you need a nitrate kit, plus you need a way to measure salinity, which in a tropical marine tank should be around 1.025. Don't get a swing arm hydrometer they are unreliable, get a sinking hydrometer or best of all a refractometer. Powerheads, the best thing for a marine tank is some tunze streams, or nano streams. they make heaps of flow and clip to the side of the tank with a magnet, never fall off. K rating of halides, 14,000k is a good balance of useable light for the corals, while looking good for us to look at. As per Conch, all this can add up, a Red Sea Max can be a cheap option, just depends how big you want to go.

Nice big gorgonian, where did you get it?

BTW, the cannister need not be a problem. Don't use one, no problem!

Not a good plan. The big problem for marine aquaria is phosphate. This is not removed by the dechlorinators used for FW tanks. Short term things will seem OK, but once the phosphate gets concentrated the tank will suffer problems.

Very nice.

I can't see the urchin, can you do a closer up or something of it?

My wife's a bit like that she is not happy about any money i spend on the tank. But watching the clownfish in their anemone seems to do it for her, after she watches them for a while she gets like this

Wonder if they make bigger versions of these tanks

Great work! You are going to give Dogmatix a run for his money when he sets his one up!

Question Conch, looks like you had an algae outbreak, then killed it with a phosphate removing media? If so did you use the standard media holder built into the tank?

Another awesome Red Sea Max! Excellent Conch, you must be proud!

Cool. Be very interested to see how this progresses.

So the gurgling is caused by bubbles going down it & into the sump? Best plan if you can do it is drill a second hole at the bottom of the overflow. Then you put a tap at the outlet of the overflow pipe, which can be restricted to raise the water level in the overflow. Once water level is high enough there will be no bubbles or gurgling it will be silent. BUT, you have to gaurd against the tap ever getting blocked by a snail or similar. This is what the second hole in the overflow is for. You put an outlet pipe in the second hole, sticking up to a height just above the water level in the overflow chamber. If the tap ever gets a blockage, water level in the overflow will rise and flow down the second pipe, which will gurgle and alert you that the tap needs looking at.

Mark what is in your overflow at the moment, just a hole in the bottom with a tube coming out?

Thought that was a skimmer in the sump?

Good one Wilson, very similar to the first tank i ever tried corals in. The kinds of corals you have will do well in there. I also had an anemone with two percula clowns in the tank, they seemed happy enough but did not lay eggs until they went into a bigger tank. Just keep a check on your nitrate levels if they get up too high try turning off the HOB filter.

That's one of those blennies that's do ugly it's beautiful LOL. Almost certainly there will be some copepods on the rocks just depends how long for them to build up enough to sustain the mandarin, but the algae film you had will help them. Not much you can do other than wait it out.

Cool. Looks pretty well thought out. Hows the main tank looking now