New tank, 35g Mangrove setup

[xcreonx]

Hello all.

Over the last 6 months I've been re-doing my 35g tank.

I decided to do something a little bit different. After living on the ocean in Florida for 10 years I wanted to create a more 'natural' look. I also wanted to focus on my beautiful healthy Elegance and Fox corals as the centerpieces with a few choice corals joining them. This setup may not represent a biotope of any kind, but it does look more like what I'm used to seeing in the ocean.

I suspended some red mangrove seeds to encourage prop roots and I added some various macroalgaes. Surprisingly, several macros just showed up including the Halimeda, the Codium and the Razor Caulerpa. I have no idea where they came from!

As far as equipment, Im keeping it really simple. Im using a Tunze Nanostream with a controller for movement, an air pump / air stone running constantly (except in the photos... microbubbles) and big water changes for filtration. There's also a Tunze Osmolator for topoff. You will notice a very huge, ugly heater that I need to switch out for a smaller, more concealed unit. Lighting is the same as my old tank, 4-light Teklight T5 fixture.

Corals consist of:
Elegance
Fox
Rhodactis
Sarcophyton
Zoanthid
Palythoa
Sinularia
Neospongodes

Macroalgae:
Caulerpas
Codium
Halimeda
Chaetomorpha
Red 'dragons breath' macro
Other random strange macros

Red Mangroves

Fish:
Fiji Blue Damsel
Spotted Cardinalfish

Enough talk, onto the photos:











Thanks for checking it out!

[mudskipper1]

Thats awesome...

[mudskipper1]

How do you achieve filtration in there?

[xcreonx]

Thanks Mudskipper

I do big water changes (around 75%) every two weeks along with pruning the macro. The Chaeto grows crazy quick. I pull out a few handfuls every few weeks.

[gastone]

That's fantastic. I remember a pic from either Fenner's "Conscientious Marine Aquarist" or Borneman's "Aquarium Corals" book of a refugium with mangroves, some feather dusters (which I think would make a nice addition to your tank IMO) from I think Julian Sprung's system. I have always been amazed by that pic. I see a lot of what made his fuge nice in your tank. Best of luck.

Garrett.

[xcreonx]

Thanks Gastone!

I've been wanting to add some feather dusters for sure. Im waiting til some nice ones come in to the stores around here.

I agree about the photos from Fenners or Bornemans book. It was certainly an inspiration. Even more so was the Southwest Florida coast. Beautiful mangrove and macroalgae habitats there.

[xcreonx]

Here's a link to my old tank (hopefully you all can view the thread without being a member):

http://www.austinreefclub.com/index....unce&f=14&id=4

[awcasper]

very nice and refreshing.

[xcreonx]

thanks

[SuperAWE]

Very Cool! Great idea on raising the mangrove seed up to start the prop roots!

[reefboy1]

Gorgeous tank. I love the idea and execution. Good luck with it.

Art

[xtm]

I've always wanted to start a macro tank.. yours is very nice! What is your photoperiod like? (how many hrs light on?) Do you dose Nitrates and Phosphates?

[Lucky-rc]

Originally posted by gastone
That's fantastic. I remember a pic from either Fenner's "Conscientious Marine Aquarist" or Borneman's "Aquarium Corals" book of a refugium with mangroves, some feather dusters (which I think would make a nice addition to your tank IMO) from I think Julian Sprung's system. I have always been amazed by that pic. I see a lot of what made his fuge nice in your tank. Best of luck.

Garrett.

gastone: like you have carried this imiage with me for years
It was Robert Fenner woh displayd that pic in his "Marine Aquarist" book...

To this day I have yet to see one as nice, But IMO give this one a year or so and this one will top it.

Congat's my friend, NICE job.

Lucky

[AquaKnight407]

Wow that's awesome. I love the diversity in there and that looks like the clearest water I've seen.

My questions are, what are the long term plans to keep the Mangroves in check when they grow bigger? Remove and replace? Mine grew fairly quickly before then perished. Also, it that 35gals, tank size, or actual water volume?

[thor32766]

wow that is a sweet tank. very different thats awesome!

[mg426]

Very interesting, original idea. AWESOME JOB !!!!

[geoxman]

Great idea and beautiful tank!

[Lucky-rc]

Jus had to look again.... Looks to me like maybe 1 inch of mud and about 2-3 inches of c/c ??? or sand to top the sub. off?
Just courious is all.
If its a secret I understand ("if ya tell me, ya gotta kill me") lol...

Also you mention "I suspended the red mangrove seeds"

Where does a guy get seeds from? and are they very tough to get growing?

You see I have an over flow box in each corner on the rear of my tank and have thought how neat would a mangrove be if it were growing up out of them.

Just a thought.... Maybe they would not be able to grow that high
( 33 inches to top of tank)

Lucky

[superedge88]

You can get seeds from Hawaii on ebay. That's where I got mine from.

[tcmfish]

you can pick them up at the beach in florida!! lol

[liv]

definitely a great system!
love that idea!

i've been trying to figure out a way to incorporate mangroves in a nano tank like this..thanks for the ideas !

[Lucky-rc]

Originally posted by tcmfish
you can pick them up at the beach in florida!! lol

LOL.... tell you what, If I go to the beach in FL. I'm gonna try to pick something else up...lol

You have got to love the way those ladies take care of themselves.

Hey thank's superman I'll see if I can find them on e-bay...
After I get back from the beach...lol

Lucky

[tcmfish]

^^

btw Very nice setup and I like how you have created a setup that replicates the natural habitat of the animals you are including very well done. I look forward to seeing updates on how the mangroves grow and affect light direct into the aquarium and overall how it matures.

[xcreonx]

Wow thanks for the nice words everyone.

xtm, my photoperiod starts at 10am with 2 bulbs (aquablue and blue+). 2 more bulbs come on at 12:30pm (sun and aquablue). The sun bulbs go off around 6pm and the two morning bulbs go off around 11pm.

I do not dose any nitrates or phosphates other than food for the fish and corals. I feed every day with either flakes or frozen mysis. I also add DTs every once in a while.

Aquaknight, the T5 fixture has adjustable legs so i can go up about 6 inches as the mangroves grow. I may trim them when they get to that point. Other than that, in a year and 1/2 ill be done with grad school and probably moving to another house or town, so i can deal with them accordingly (ie: a bigger tank, trim, planting in a pot, etc., etc.)

The 35g is the tank FULL of water with no sand/rock. With the level dropped I think it's probably around 15 gallons (with the sand and rock of course)

lucky-rc, the substrate is around 4 inches of live sand. its all from my old old 180g I had years ago. There's no mud in there, just years of growth.

I moved here from Florida (southwest coast) and I still have family there. I go back every fall and grab some mangrove seeds that washed up on the beach. They are everywhere! I dont know where to order them, as I have always found them in the intercoastal. They do require some special care for sure. They need good light and nutrients to grow. they also need to have their leaves misted and washed daily to get rid of the salt. Also, they ARE trees and they will grow 20, 30, 40 feet tall eventually. So they do need some forethought. As I said I will be dealing with these trees accordingly as they grow. I have some in a planter on my deck that are a few years old that are close to three feet tall.

tcmfish, yes I've been thinking of how to deal with the light losswhen the mangroves are full of leaves. I noticed my corals dont seem to like the full-on lighting so I cut back the photoperiod of the sun bulbs a bit. Perhaps Ill leave tghem on longer once the leaves get full. otherwise I have a 250w DE MH ready to go :P

Thanks everyone for your comments. Please feel free to ask more questions!

[AquaKnight407]

Awesome, I have 25gal which looks like it has similar dimensions, that I've been wanted to do something with. This seems really cool.

Do you run auto-top top off at all? I thought the salinity swing in my other tank is what killed them, but mangroves are found in a lot of stagnant ponds were the salinity swing upward daily thru the roof!