Micro Mangrove Build

[ewelch]

Hello everyone , this is my fist "build" thread so please bare with me .

I'll start by explaing where this idea came from . Ever since I saw Julian Sprung's tank I have been In love and facinated with mangroves . More recently inspired by some of Scott Feldman's "Biotope" articles and then finally pushed over the edge by Austins Mangrove tank at Aquabox .

Mainly due to size constraints( size of my bank account) I have always leaned toward nano tanks . I currently have an Innovative Marine Fusion 20 that I started about 4 months ago . I recently had the idea to plumb a small nano Mangrove tank into the system . The decision to plumb the two small systems Rochester was made not to reduce nutrients but to reduce equipment cost and clutter in the Mangrove tank . By joint the two systems I can run 1 ATO , 1 heater , 1 doser etc .

Over the past few months I have been growing a Mangrove out in freshwater (they grow much faster) and then slowly aclimated it over the saltwater over the corse of a couple of months .

So that's the idea , the plan , the vision .
Here are a couple of pictures for now .

The Mangrove that will be the focus of this build

My current IM 20 . Sorry for the crappy phone pictures

 

[Tahoe61]

Excellent.

Following, as I have been thinking of doing the same with my IM 20. As luck would have it shipping Mangroves to AZ is against the law, vendors will not do it. :-(

 

[ewelch]

Excellent.

Following, as I have been thinking of doing the same with my IM 20. As luck would have it shipping Mangroves to AZ is against the law, vendors will not do it. :-(

I noticed when I was looking for mine that some states were restricted . That blows ...

I might know a guy if you are interested

 

[ewelch]

I picked up a Mr. Aqua 7.5 gallon 12" low iron cube from @Bulk Reef Supply , I have always wanted an excuse to use one of these cool little tanks . With it I got some dry rock , a Sicce 1.0 pump , live sand and some bulk heads and drill bit to drill this little tank .

I found a neat metal cabinet at a local antique shop that should work nicely as a stand .

I'm hoping to get a couple of holes drilled tonight , maybe it will stay in one piece !

I'm planing on about a 1" sand bed and a small amount of rock . I have never used sand in a tank , so this will be new for me.The rock will serve as an anchor for the Mangrove more than anything .

The tank sits about 5 inches higher than the IM 20 I will be plumbing it into . I will use the Sicce to pump water into the tank then gravity to drain it back to the IM20.

 

[ewelch]

Got the holes drilled and dry fitting of the plumbing done .

The slope of the pipes is killing my OCD but I am using gravity to drain back to the display . I am going to paint the pipes tan to match the walls and maybe blend in a little more .

Gonna glue everything up and put a coat of paint on .

 

[ewelch]

Pipes are painted and once again installed .

Added about an inch of live sand , the rock and the mangrove .

Added the water , kicked on the pump . All is good !

Flow rate is very slow , as designed .

Time to get my light up and it will be all but complete .

 

[ewelch]

Light is up , every thing is running smoothly.

Looking for some sea grasses and other interesting macros if anyone knows where I might be able to find some .

 

[CalebWBrink2000]

Light is up , every thing is running smoothly.

Looking for some sea grasses and other interesting macros if anyone knows where I might be able to find some .

I'd look towards live-plants.com.

Their stock is a bit low due to the hurricanes, but they are one of the best groups in the business to work with for macros and other critters.

 

[ewelch]

I'd look towards live-plants.com.

Their stock is a bit low due to the hurricanes, but they are one of the best groups in the business to work with for macros and other critters.

Great ! Thanks , I will check them out

 

[reefsquared]

That is such a nice mangrove. How long have you had it?

 

[ewelch]

That is such a nice mangrove. How long have you had it?

Over a year . Started as a seedling in a pot . Grew it out in dirt using freshwater . I have spent the last few months acclimating it to saltwater in preparation for this tank .

 

[Alex Hutton]

Very nice tank! What type of light is that?

 

[ewelch]

Very nice tank! What type of light is that?

Thank you

The light is a par 38 led I picked up from lowes . The fixture is just a cheap pendant light I got at lowes as well. I was going to run a 175 w halide but based on Austin with Aquabox information I decide to give it a try. To soon to tell but so far so good

Here is a picture of the box it came in .

 

[reefsquared]

Did you grow it in the blue bucket? How much dirt do you use?

 

[ewelch]

Did you grow it in the blue bucket? How much dirt do you use?

I used the pot and soil it came in from the nursery for awhile . I eventually moved it over to a 3 gallon pot with the original soil and added some "miracle mud"

The blue bucket was only used when the Mangrove came out of the soil for the acclimation to salt water . I had a small heater and power head in the bucket and slowly raised the salintly of the fresh water (using old water change water ) to 35 ppt over the corse of about 3 months .

 

[ewelch]

Ordered some Macros from Live-Plants.com

Everything should be here Friday , will update with some pictures when it gets here.

 

[Dsnakes]

Can't wait to see some updated pictures. This is a very cool build! Giving me some inspiring ideas

 

[CalebWBrink2000]

Ordered some Macros from Live-Plants.com

Everything should be here Friday , will update with some pictures when it gets here.

The quantities you get for the price are absolutely insane- I look forward to seeing this come to fruition! SPS reefs are gorgeous, but I love the look and feel of more.. "organic" reefs too.

 

[6Bolt]

What a really cool build. I am impressed!

 

[gar732]

Nice! I look forward to seeing this progress. I’ve always wanted to build a reef around mangrove roots.