My daughter has been inspiring me for about a year with her wonderful cultivation of a fresh water fish tank. She has had a variety of fish and plants and I have been watching them thrive. She has had many fish including dwarf gourami, cherry barbs, bristle nose catfish, siamese algae eaters, corydoras, tetras and others.

Very clearly I am not the only one captivated by her wonderful fish tank.

When I first got married my husband was into marine fish and I loved how the blue lighting made everything look so amazing. So I have decided to adventure out and start a very small nano reef of my very own. I have been looking around and you can make some pretty amazing small reefs with fish and coral in some very small tanks.

I have purchased this 52L/13.5 gallon Fluval Sea Marine Kit. The tank comes complete with a seperate end section that contains the pump, filter foam, carbon, bio filter and lights both daylight and moonlight. I will still need to add to the accessories as I go along. I will need a protein skimmer, wavemaker, heater/chiller and more. I love the fact that it is mostly complete - set up - easy to use and hopefully something I can accomplish on my own.

I have been researching fish and corals and can't wait to get things all ready. At this point - I have filled the tank with crushed coral sand, and sea water. This begins the process of cycling the tank. Ammonia was added and I hope to add the bacteria from the fluval sea cycle to help speed up the cycling process.

I have got a few photographs to show the initial stage I am upto and hope to make this more interesting as I go along and make the tank more complete.

Added Crushed Coral Sand and Eco-Friendly 3DM mineral-based artificial 'live rock'

Filled with Sea Water

Water still murky - will need to settle

The moonlight lights that will make the corals glow

I will keep my blog updated as I go along throughout different stages
and I hope at the end to display a beautiful mini reef.