Recently, I realised I could get away with setting up a marine tank without breaking my no-more-tanks promise thanks to the three bay tank I have in the garage. I used to use it for African fry and fighter fry, but have had a spare bay for a while, so finally, after lurking on Reef Tank Junkies for a while, I've decided to give marine a go in the spare bay.

I'm a total newbie, but have been asking questions on NZRTJ, so I figured I should probably collect all that advice in to one place.

Stuff so far:

• 45L tank - 44cm(L) x 35cm (H) x 30cm(D)
  Heater
  Filtration - 4kgs of live rock, and an internal/HOB filter for carbon/purigen
  Lighting -

Clip on desk lamp + this LED bulb
Water - Pure dew for topups, and NSW from probably Bethells Beach
Refractometer
Marine Test Kit - Will get off TM

Cleaner Shrimp
Possibly Citrinis Goby
Possibly Turbo snails (have been recommended these)

Corals will be mostly zoas, as I think they're gorgeous. I'm not sure of the jargon yet, but apparently it'll be mostly 'softies' and possibly easy LPS?

I'll be getting this stuff slowly as I don't really have the funds to get everything straight away, so there's plenty of time for more reading up about marine tanks. Anything advice or help for super newbie like myself is totally welcome.

:happy2: I AM VERY EXCITED. :happy1:

Obviously, I'm already planning a tank upgrade in my head, but I want to give marine a go in a smaller tank, just so if I stuff anything up really badly, it won't blow my bank account to pieces quite so badly.

:gopo: :spop:

Sounds exciting. :spop:

Don't get an API test kit - it can be off by +/- 5 which means you may as well not even test it. Salifert is reasonably priced and pretty good. Ive got a spare brand new refrac, case, dropper, adjuster that I can calibrate for you for $30 - $5 postage. Id say 100% in 40l that it would be a smart idea to get a HOB filter remove all the media and just put carbon and purigen in the back - maybe a fine mesh polishing pad that you clean weekly. I love nano's! can be awesome if done right.

Definitely keen on your offer! I've sent you a PM. I'm also looking at the marina slim 20 as a decent HOB to put carbon and purigen in. I'll be going on a coral scouting mission this weekend, so hopefully I'll find something that will work well in the space I've got.

Woo, got my light fixture, and have just ordered the bulb (and the adaptor because the fixture is bayonet, but the bulb is screw in). Coral I'll hopefully be getting this week from Petstop ( :phb: I know, but everywhere else around me only has huge rocks too big for the tank).

Yay nano marine :3 what kind of shape are you going to go for with the coral rock?

The first setup! I found a little wp-10 wavemaker in a drawer that I had forgotten about (I knew I kept it for a reason!), so that's on there to get all the crap out of the rocks. It's just soaking in freshwater right now.

:bounce: IT'S SO EXCITING!

This marine stuff is... well, pretty slow. Patience is a virtue, I guess.

Only slightly browning so far. I've added in more food to feed the bacteria a little faster, so we'll see how that goes.

It takes ages to get through these stages, and then for a while you are going to wish the rock had stayed white

Well, there's nothing important in there at the moment, and it's all out in the garage, so whatever colour it goes, it's kinda interesting.

cant wait until i can post these things hahahaah

Way to rub it in when I'm selling the rocks today. :cry1: