Monocot's Micro Mangrove Build

[monocot]

Just a quick update! The mangroves are settling in really nicely and I'm seeing pretty consistent growth. My candy cane coral got pretty peeved a few months ago for some reason and receded quite quickly, but I did a pretty huge water change and it seems to be hanging on. I'm not sure it'll bounce back, but I feel comfortable enough tossing some other bulletproof coral in there sometime as the tank has seemed to hit a nice stability. The rock is also getting a nice patina without any nasty algae. I'm heading back to my folk's house for thanksgiving, so I might bring back a little bit of GSP or some other coral from the tank back there. Otherwise, I don't really do much other than feed the snails, top off the ATO weekly, spray with RODI water when I remember, and do a ~50% water change every few weeks.

 

[monocot]

Just over a year since I got this little tank started! Things have been going pretty well overall, and I'm pleased with the setup. The maintenance is extremely limited - I just top off the ATO reservoir with RODI weekly, scrape algae from the glass, spray the mangroves, and feed my snails every few days with some spirulina balls I found lying around. Every 2-3 months I've been doing a 50% water change, but the whole setup is pretty minimal. I spend enough of my day doing animal husbandry, so this is kind of the perfect scenario for me. I'm sure I could get better growth out of my mangroves if I dope it with nutrients, but I'm not hugely inclined since I don't want them to outgrow the tank too quickly. Plus, this is like 1.8 gallons of water volume, so the margins are pretty tight if I screw up dosing by a small amount. The sand and rock are getting a little grimey, and there's one notable dead spot in the back behind the rocks that collects detritus, but I kind of don't mind since it reminds me of mangroves in nature (; Plus, this tank is pretty nutrient limited, so a little nitrogen source isn't the worst thing!

I'm super stoked with how well my AIO filter/heater/ATO sensor mod has been holding up. The salt creep is a little annoying at times, but it's nothing I can't handle and its a nice distraction to pick at while I'm in to a particularly boring Zoom meeting...

At some point, I'll probably have to hang the light or upgrade since the tallest mangrove is getting quite close to the bulb (and a little light burned), but I figure I still have a few months before I need to really mess with it. I'm hesitant to get anything too powerful as it kind of sucks to have a really bright light in my peripheral vision whenever I'm at my desk.

As for future efforts, I might decide to toss in some macro algae or perhaps a super chill soft coral, but I don't want things to get too busy. I had this vision about getting a little rock anemone and a pair of sexy shrimp, but I'm hesitant to add in anything too intense. We'll see - I'm open to any and all suggestions!