Sump as it sits now, ATO controller in place.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00001.jpg

Rock in sump

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00002.jpg

Nice rock from my other tank. Covered in Coraline

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00003.jpg

Crab hitchin' a ride on a snail

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00004.jpg

Looking good! What skimmer are you going to use? I just do 10-15% changes every 2 weeks in my 10 gallon and that seems to work out just fine, but then again I don't have the livestock list that you will. Nice work, looks great.

Looks good so far... Too good lol

Love the rocks and I have to ask, how do you get that nice purple coralline on them?

My perfect skimmer for this setup because of the simplicity of design, use, and it's compact size, would be the Tunze 9002. I've had 3 of these skimmers in the past on various sized tanks and they are fantastic. It'll fit perfectly with the magnet mount on the back side of the sump right in front of the overflow drain. So thats what i'm looking for. I just hate buying things at new prices lol. So i'm waiting for one to come about used.

Just start with a good piece of quality live rock with lots of coraline on it already. Put it in the tank with the other rocks, and make sure that your calcium and mag are always in check. I found that the best way for coraline to thrive. My other display is pure purple, and I just started with one pure-coraline covered piece of rock. It spreads on it's own.

Many people have tried stuff like "purple up" and personally, it has done nothing for me. I tried it for almost a full year of dosing on an old tank, and had maybe a couple tiny little patches of coraline.

I also keep calcium high in that tank because it's got a bunch of clams in it.

How high are you keeping it at?

In my other tank I keep it around 450 ppm. I have a measured dosage of calcium that goes in my auto top off bucket, so I mix 5 gallons at a time. Keeps it very consistant. I just use seachem advantage calcium/mag suppliment.

Also helps to have strong lighting. I have a 14K phoenix 150W metal halide right over top of it with 2 actinic t5's on a small tank.

In the edge, I don't think I will need to keep the calcium that high. I will aim for around 380-400 ppm for this tank as it will have some LPS, a small clam,and some easy SPS.

wow dude, coming along nicely. you should market mod to the tank and sell it, I'll buy one for sure.

I just love that coraline :) let me know if you would like to sell some rock :)


Ofcourse my test kit shows my Ca being extremely high 540+ which is most likely way off. I hate the fact that I spent almost 100$ on API kits to get false results.
I have a few large rocks with a nice coraline on them but they are pure white (very few purple spots on some of my other rocks) and now HA is trying to take my coraline over... this is a battle i must win.

+1 I'd buy one too! How many Tangs could I squeeze in there before the Tang Police break my door down? ��