Marine Tank-- The beginning

As previously mentioned...was tempted by the many colours and varieties of marine life that I set up a marine tank despite the many challenges ahead... Had to learn from many mistakes and sadly, from the plenty of losses of corals and fish. Never really had a major tank crash (or major die-off) from my lack of experience but experienced some losses due to lack of research or impulse purchases.

Some pictures of my initial setup (first 3 mths) and corals/ fishes when I first started in 2007.

Cycling the marine tank with fresh saltwater and first piece of 5kg live rock..

*notice the rock of green yuma and a pick cauliflower coral ( I just couldn't wait !! )

A full tank shot of the 1st week, small air-driven skimmer, T-5 lighting and hang-on back filter...

A month later...

...2 pink skunk clown fish added

skunk cleaner shrimp added.... 1-mth green-tan yuma

..pink bubble-tip anemone

....green bubble-tip anemone

...pink-striped feather duster worm added

Apart from the pink skunk clownfish and cleaner shrimp that survived, the feather duster worm, green-tan yuma and cauliflower coral didn't make it past 3 mths...

The cheap protein skimmer ($18) didn't perform and the light tubes were too "blue" (too high spectrum--20kelvin rating) for the yuma that was supposed to be easy to keep. There wasn't enough micro-fauna/ microscopic food to sustain the cauliflower and feather duster which needed to be fed rather than make their own food... An initial sense of guilt of not knowing the corals well enough and causing their demise led to implementing a rule of not purchasing any more livestock for the time being...maybe I should go fish-only ???