How to List a Full Tank Breakdown on CoralBay UK
A full tank breakdown listing is designed for reef keepers who are closing down, downsizing, moving house, changing direction, or selling a large amount of livestock, corals, rock, or equipment in stages.
Instead of creating lots of separate listings, CoralBay lets you create one organised breakdown listing with separate sections for rock, corals, livestock, and equipment. You can decide which sections are available now, which sections are available later, and update the listing as items become reserved, sold, cleared, or skipped.
Why use the full tank breakdown option?
A normal marketplace listing is best for one item or a small group of items. A full tank breakdown is better when you have several things to sell and want to manage the sale in a controlled order.
For example, many reefers prefer to sell:
- rock or live rock first
- then corals
- then livestock
- then equipment once the system is empty
The full tank breakdown system helps you do this without confusing buyers. You can show what is available now, what will become available later, and what has already been reserved or cleared.
Step 1: Start a Marine Marketplace listing
Go to the CoralBay selling page and open the Marine Marketplace listing form.
Tick the option:
“Is this listing a full tank breakdown?”
Once this is selected, the form changes from a normal single-item marketplace listing into a full tank breakdown form.
Step 2: Understand the breakdown sections
A tank breakdown is split into four main sections:
- Rock / live rock
- Corals
- Livestock
- Equipment
You do not have to use every section. Only add items to the sections that apply to your breakdown.
Step 3: Choose when each section is available
Each section has an availability setting. This is important because not every part of a tank breakdown is usually available at the same time.
You can usually choose something like:
- Available now — buyers can see items in the section and enquire about these items immediately.
- Available once earlier group is cleared — this group is shown as coming later. Only amount of items in this section is shown. No details yet.
For example, you might make rock and corals available now, but keep livestock and equipment available later. This tells buyers that the later sections are part of the breakdown, but not ready to collect yet.
How to plan the first stage: rock and corals
The first two sections in a full tank breakdown are usually Rock / live rock and Corals. These are often the best sections to think about first, because many tanks cannot be stripped in a completely random order.
You may want to start by listing the Rock / live rock section first. Some rocks may have corals permanently attached to them, so it is completely fine to list them as combined items.
For example:
- Large live rock with Acropora and mushrooms attached
- Small rock covered in Discosoma mushrooms
- Live rock with zoanthids and sponge growth
Price each item individually where possible. This makes it much easier for buyers to understand what they are enquiring about.
If you have corals that are not attached to rock but you still want them gone early, you can also include them in the first available stage if that makes sense for your breakdown.
There may also be cases where you do not really have live rock to sell, or all corals are easy to access without disturbing the tank. In that case, you can untick the Rock / live rock section and start with the Corals section instead.
You can also make both Rock / live rock and Corals available now. If both sections are marked as available now, buyers will see both immediately and can contact you about them. They are not treated as separate stages unless you choose to manage them that way.
CoralBay advice: stick to your breakdown plan
One piece of advice from CoralBay: do not feel pressured to sell everything out of order.
If you start your listing with only the Rock / live rock section available, you may still receive messages such as:
“Hi, I’d like to take your corals.”
If the corals are not available yet, it is perfectly fine to ignore or politely delay those enquiries. For your own sake, stick to your schedule and give yourself time.
A tank breakdown can quickly become stressful if buyers start pushing for livestock, corals, or equipment before you are ready. Sell at your own pace. The right buyer for the right item will usually come along.
Please note that both the seller and buyer need a basic CoralBay UK account to communicate through the platform. This system has been introduced to help keep your private email address hidden and reduce spam or unwanted contact.
Not every enquiry will be genuine or immediately relevant. Some users may ask about items that are not yet available, while others may simply be checking future availability. Do not feel pressured into rushing your breakdown. It is completely fine to wait for relevant enquiries about the items or sections that are currently available.
Step 4: Add items inside each section
Inside each section, you can add individual items. Each item can have:
- item name
- price
- price mode
- status
- optional description
- optional item photo
Try to keep item names clear and simple. For example:
- Large purple tang
- Green hammer coral colony
- Live rock with sponge growth
- Red Sea skimmer
- AI Hydra light
Step 5: Use prices clearly
Each item can have its own price. This makes the breakdown easier for buyers to understand.
Where possible, avoid putting all prices only in the description. Buyers are more likely to enquire if they can quickly see the item and price together.
If you are flexible, you can use the price mode to show whether the price is fixed or open to offers.
Step 6: Add optional item descriptions only where useful
Each item can have extra notes, but you do not need to fill this in for every item.
Use item descriptions when there is something useful to explain, such as:
- size
- condition
- collection notes
- known behaviour
- whether the coral can be cut
- whether the item includes accessories
For example:
“Large colony, can be cut into smaller pieces if needed.”
“Healthy fish, feeding well, best collected after rock is removed.”
Step 7: Add a main photo
For full tank breakdown listings, a main photo is required. This should show the tank, livestock, coral collection, equipment, or the general breakdown clearly.
A clear main photo helps buyers trust the listing and understand what is being sold.
You can also add extra photos where useful.
Step 8: Submit the listing
When you press Submit listing for review, CoralBay will upload the listing and photos.
Please wait until the submission finishes. Do not refresh or close the page while the listing is uploading.
Once submitted, the listing may be reviewed before it appears publicly, depending on your account and moderation settings.
How buyers see a full tank breakdown
On the public listing page, buyers will see the full tank breakdown organised into sections.
Sections that are available now show the individual items inside them. Buyers can tick the items they are interested in and send an enquiry.
Sections that are available later are shown as a summary. This helps buyers understand what will become available later without allowing enquiries too early.
How enquiries work
When buyers view an available section, they can tick the specific items they are interested in.
They then use the enquiry form to send you a message about those selected items.
This is better than a general message because you can immediately see which items the buyer is asking about.
Managing your tank breakdown from My Account
After your listing is created, you can manage it from your CoralBay account.
Go to:
My Account → My listings
Find your full tank breakdown listing and choose the management option for breakdown items and group statuses.
Managing item statuses
Each item can be updated as the sale progresses.
Common item statuses include:
- Available — buyers can enquire about it.
- Reserved — someone may be buying it, so it is no longer selectable by buyers.
- Sold — the item has been sold.
If an item is reserved, buyers should see that it is reserved, but they should not be able to select it in the enquiry form.
Managing group statuses
Each section can also have a group status. This is useful when a whole section has been dealt with.
For example:
- Available / in progress — the section is still active.
- Cleared / move on — the section has been sold or cleared, and the next section can become available.
- Skipped / move on — you are not selling that section now, but want to move to the next stage.
What “cleared / move on” means
Use cleared / move on when a section has genuinely been dealt with.
For example, if all corals are sold or removed, you can mark the corals section as cleared. This can allow the next section, such as livestock or equipment, to become available.
What “skipped / move on” means
Use skipped / move on when you want to move past a section without treating it as sold.
Technically, both options achieve a similar result — they allow the next section to become available for buyers to see.
For example, you might decide not to sell livestock through the listing, or you might move fish to a local shop. In that case, you can skip the livestock section and move on to equipment.
Example breakdown flow
A typical staged breakdown might work like this:
- Create the full tank breakdown listing.
- Make corals available now.
- Set livestock and equipment as available later.
- Mark individual corals as reserved or sold as buyers contact you.
- Once corals are cleared, mark the corals group as cleared / move on.
- Make livestock available.
- Once livestock is gone, move on to equipment.
- Mark the listing or groups complete when finished.
Important: statuses are not updated automatically
When someone enquires about an item, CoralBay does not automatically mark that item as reserved or sold. You need to update item statuses yourself from your account.
If an item is reserved, mark it as Reserved. If it has sold, mark it as Sold. This keeps the public listing accurate and helps avoid multiple buyers asking for the same item.
When a whole section has been dealt with, you can update the group status. For example, if Rock / live rock has been sold or cleared, mark that section as Cleared / move on. If you decide not to sell a section through the listing, mark it as Skipped / move on.
Marking a section as cleared or skipped may allow the next section to become available automatically, depending on how your breakdown is set up.
Tips for getting more enquiries
- Use a clear main photo.
- Add realistic prices to individual items.
- Keep item names short and understandable.
- Use descriptions only where they add useful detail.
- Update reserved and sold items quickly.
- Keep the available sections accurate.
- Do not list everything as available now if buyers cannot collect it yet.
Best practice for staged tank breakdowns
The best listings are clear, honest, and regularly updated.
If some items are not ready yet, mark them as available later. If something is reserved, mark it as reserved. If a whole section has been cleared, update the group status so buyers understand the current stage of the breakdown.
This makes the listing easier for buyers to trust and easier for you to manage.
Summary
The full tank breakdown system is designed to help reef keepers sell a complete setup in an organised way.
You can list multiple items under one breakdown, control which sections are available, receive enquiries about specific items, and update the listing as the sale progresses.
Used properly, it gives buyers a clear view of what is available now and what is coming later, while giving sellers a simple way to manage the whole breakdown from their account.