# My new marine tank :) setup pics first



## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

well, i decided it had been too long since i had a marine aquarium.

i got myself a nice rio 180 for cheap, and for the last 2 weeks have been setting it up 

here are some WIP pics for you all


















































just waiting for levels to even out and nitrite to go down then will add live rock. then wait again, and then add some fishes and corals 

tank is running huge external filter, UV steriliser, Internal filter and external protein skimmer 


comments welcomed, and appreciated


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## MancoonianIguana (Mar 29, 2010)

Good looking set up, keep up the nice work :2thumb:


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## Love_snakes (Aug 12, 2007)

Looking great! 

I would rip that filter off the glass for a bit more room. What you planning to stock? 

Everyone has to have 2 clowns


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

i was thinking of taking it out, but im using as a particle filter, to pick up and stray bits of crap floating about 
ill be putting more rocks, mostly live rock, up each side. left side is gonna be right to the top, like a sea "cliff" lol

right side will be live rock and polyps up to top aswell with just the middle being more open.

as for stock i havent decided yet. when i had my old 7ft marine tank, it was a bit of a jumble. large volitan lions, panther grouper, triggerfish, boxfish, clowns, blennies, gobies and yellow tangs.

this time, im deffo getting 2 clowns, maybe black perculas. also looking at a bicolour angel, or flame angel.
other than that i aim to have some fire shrimps and cleaner shrimps. not getting any anemones, because once its setup i dont want them to walk about lol. 
might get some emperor cardinals, and maybe some firefish.

anyone suggest any bright friendly community fish?


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

heres a pic of my other tank, a vision 180. its my tropical tank, and its getting on very well. loads of plant growth 









also, before i made it marine, the rio 180 was for my turtles. they are now in a larger 4 foot tank 
heres them in the rio 180  i loved this setup, but marine was my mission


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## Love_snakes (Aug 12, 2007)

Pearson Design said:


> i was thinking of taking it out, but im using as a particle filter, to pick up and stray bits of crap floating about
> ill be putting more rocks, mostly live rock, up each side. left side is gonna be right to the top, like a sea "cliff" lol
> 
> right side will be live rock and polyps up to top aswell with just the middle being more open.
> ...


Oooh cool. Sounds good. Clowns are always great, I would suggest a flame angel over a bicolour because I have found bicolours somewhat touchy and will get whitespot or just randomly die. Flames have been more hardy for me. 

Cardinals look pretty but arnt all that interesting. Look great in a group though. Firefish are great. 
Splash of colour and are little characters (I pref purple over red as they are slightly larger and more bold so you will see it more)
Other cool fish I like are the royal gramma obv. I didn't realise until I got mine just how intense the purple is. Peaceful, pretty and a nice size.
6 line wrasses are cool fish. Small but very bold and can be I wouldn't say agressive more territorial(sp). Great colours and personality. Best added last. Blennies and gobies are also great fish. 

I would avoid damsels completely purely because they will annoy all of the peaceful fish in a smaller tank.


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

yeah, im gonna have a proper look about before i decide  make sure i do it properly this time lol

here is some more pics, i added some caulerpa (for free hehe)


























just got to wait til next weekend before adding more live rock now  im so impatient though lol


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

hey guys, sorry for the delay in updates.

ive done quite a bit to it since my last post 

got some live rock, some more base rocks and some polyp rocks, and 2 percula clowns.
also, to my annoyance, i bought 2 large pieces of live rock, got them home, put them in my tank and 2 electric blue damsels swam out of them! cool that they were free, but annoying cos i didnt really want damsels lol

anyways, heres the new pics
not finished still, needs more rocks and polyp rocks and corals, but its getting there 

sorry for the poor, blurry pics, ill get better ones soon 












































































and some more 
got more live rock and a feather duster today, and some more algae rock stuff lol


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## simonas (Apr 12, 2008)

I;d recomend a coral beauty and lawnmower blenny both great fish

looks like too much rock in there for me won;lt there be loads of dead spots?

your clown fish look really healthy, the two I have are nowhere near as good looking and all the shops I;ve been too have had crap looking clown stock


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## Viva (Apr 19, 2010)

Thanks for posting pics of it's progress! I've only just started my first tropical but one day I'd love a marine tank ..... ! What are all the different filters for then? Protein filter?


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## xvickyx (Jul 21, 2009)

Looks great, I miss my marine tank 

Here is mine at her best


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

well its been a while since i put some pics up so here are some mroe 

ive added lots of stuff recently too 
all water tests come back perfect and all fish are doing great 










































































































comments welcomed


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## Viva (Apr 19, 2010)

I think it's brill, the corals are fabulous as well!


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

thankyou very much 
only gonna be adding 2 more fish i think. something ridiculously bright pink, and maybe something obscenely bright red or orange/yellow

looking at flame angel maybe
did see a really nice sailfin tang, but not sure...

maybe an orchid/pink dottyback aswell...

if anyone has coral frags they wanna sell me cheap, dont care how small as long as they will be noticeable lol  then let me know please!!!!!


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

ive changed it around some more and got new corals and fish
2 percula clowns
a foxface
a dragon wrasse
2 firefish
1 pyjama cardinal
2 blue damsels
2 cleaner shrimp

new corals are leather coral, finger leather coral, kenya tree and some more xenia and more polyps 

heres a full tank shot









and here is a pic of the right side, this is my new area for corals and polyps to be placed in the hope they spread everywhere


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## Viva (Apr 19, 2010)

They're so beautiful aren't they! But I like that one that looks like a flatterned fungus the best!


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## leopardclare (Apr 18, 2010)

Damsels - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Personal experience makes me say that I wouldnt allow one wihtin 100yrds of my tank! 


Pictures look really good - nice one!


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

yeah i didnt want the damsels 
i bought some live rock from my lfs and after 3 minutes of it being in my tank, 2 blue damsels swam out lol
they were free, but i still didnt really want them in there.

gonna be moving my freshwater tank to marine this week i think, so might have a fish only with live rock tank, and leave this one for reef setup


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