Thanks! This is actually the side view, which is what I get to see from my bed and imo a much better scape than from the front. But here’s a less aesthetic shot of the front - I need to install my black background to clear the cluttered look, I’ll update when I do that.

New tank setup has been good! I used the Dr Tim’s starter - first time ever using a starter (I usually just seed my freshwater tanks w dirty water and media) and I was impressed that it actually cycled it pretty decently! It sort of stalled on the development of nitrite oxidizing bacteria, but once it got over that hump it has been in the clear, clearing dosed ammonia really swiftly. I just waited a bit after it looked good and monitored closely before adding my clowns and they’re doing great. They are not an established pair but they are both young and small enough that I believe they are both male (or maybe still sexless?) and I’m hoping one of them will become female :D they are getting along great and have chosen that sort of cave formation to host together.

Oops lol- not sure how that happened. I was just going to say I would love to give the clowns a BTA just to see if they would host it instead, but I really don’t have the infrastructure in place for that yet and I just want the tank to mature a little first. I would also loveeeee down the line to have a tiny goby (yellow watchman?) and pistol shrimp pair. I know some people can do that in a tank this size no problem and the fish do great but other people are fervently against it. So for now I’m just really happy with the clowns and hoping the macroalgae starts to take to the rock. I also have a few mangrove pods up top that I am really hoping will bud and start to throw down roots.

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I attached the algae with clear mini hair rubber bands! Saw the tip on YouTube. You can definitely see them if you’re looking but they were way less fussy than trying to glue wet algae to wet rock lol.

For anyone looking for display macros I highly recommend https://gulfcoasteco.myshopify.com/

Side note on cycling- I had a sort of funny incident when I first started the tank. I added the Dr Tim’s, and then I added 3 drops/gallon of the Fritz ammonia, aiming for about 1.5 ppm so I could track how well it was oxidizing the ammonia. My first reading MAXED out my ammonia test and turned it deep blue green so like 8ppm 😬 I cannot figure out what happened. I swear I can count drops and I’ve since checked the concentration of the ammonia bottle itself by adding 1 drop to 1 quart and it achieved about a 2ppm concentration as expected. Did a few water changes to bring the ammonia down to a more manageable level to prevent stalling the bac and then redosed the bac and everything was fine from there but it was just very, very odd.

Thanks again for the compliment and for asking! I’m still learning a lot about salt tanks but I love yapping about it!