I said I wouldn't go back :)

[Nick potts]

After not having a marine tank for the last few years I kept promising myself I wouldn't go back to a salty tank, but after over 15 years of having them on and off, I suppose it was inevitable.

Anyway, I picked myself up a nice little Red Sea Desktop 70ltr AIO tank, AI prime, and everything else I need to get going. My rock arrived this morning so now the fun part of trying to scape a marine tank, I am hoping what I have learnt here will help.

I have no hard plans for the tank yet, except that I probably won't go full SPS like I normally would, I want something on par with a high tech planted maintenance wise at most. I was considering macroalgae, but the availability in the UK is putting me off a bit.

Will get some more pics as I start the rockwork later.

Had to take down my 60F shallow scape to fit but have plans for a table top setup for that

 

[Courtneybst]

Nice to see another marine tank on the forum. The supply of macroalgae isn't as good as North America or Asia but there's a decent amount of species available to make a beautiful tank! I think you'll enjoy it. 😁

 

[Nick potts]

Thanks, @Courtneybst

I have had a look at most suppliers and they seem to be chronically OOS, but if I decide on seahorses which I have always wanted to try I may go that way. At the moment I am thinking of a mostly Zoa and LPS dominant setup with lots of little gobies, but I do tend to change my mind a lot 😁

Also very disappointed that proper, real liverock is no longer available and I will have to get some imported from the continent which is a bit of a hassle but will definitely be worth the effort and cost.

 

[Deano3]

Great to see another marine and another setup for me to learn from 😅 can't wait to follow along mate

 

[Nick potts]

Not much to report on this, I'm currently working on the scape.

This is going to be a slow build, I don't really want to be dealing with a maturing marine setup with corals over the summer when time is at a premium even more, so I am debating either just filling and leaving for a few months to run and establish pods, etc, or possibly with a pair of clowns (even though I don't really want clowns again lol )

Anyway, some pics of the scape, still more to add but I don't want to go too rock heavy. The pics don't offer the same perspective as when looking at the tank, it was hard to get that in, hopefully it will all come together and look OK in the end.

 

[Nick potts]

A little update on this setup, settled on a scape and the first fish was added.

I couldn't get hold of a pair of clowns locally, this may be a blessing as I didn't really want clowns in this tank, but the little one is rather insistent, I'm hoping a can get away with other pretty fish instead lol. Added a firefish that is so far impossible to photo as it's far too skittish.

Clean up crew will be the next additions, mostly shrimp and possibly Nassarius snails to start as the tank is rather sterile and I don't think there will be much for most snails to eat

Anyway, a pic of an empty looking tank will have to do