Northwest's UNS 60U Mangrove Lagoon Build

[Northwest_Scapes_]

I've always been into the niche areas of the hobby (You might recognize me from my Non-Photosynthetic Build ) and a Mangrove Lagoon build is something I've wanted to do for a while. Now that were building a big Mangrove Lagoon as apart of the new 'Ocean Pavilion' expansion at the Seattle Aquarium , I figured there was no better time. This build isn't going to a strict biotope, but it is based off of the Mangrove Forests in Raja Ampat, Indonesia which is apart of the Coral Triangle. I was going to start this once I actually had the tank up and running, but figured it'd be better to truly start from the beginning. I would've loved to do this in a true lagoon style tank, was looking at the UNS 60CS which has more lagoon style dimensions but didn't really want to build another stand so I'm sticking with the 60U I've got. A lot of the animals in here I'm choosing because they're found in the Coral Triangle so sticking true to that. The corals and macroalgae will be loose representations since some stuff you're not able to get from there, but it'll be mostly Soft Corals, a few LPS, and a variety of Macroalgae both from the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. I put a lot of thought into this since I want to apply what's going on at the aquarium to this build.
Another big inspiration is the Mangrove Lagoon at the Steinhart Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences , which is truly one of the best exhibits I've ever seen. I highly suggest checking it out if you're in San Francisco since the whole place is amazing.

Now to get onto the specifics:
Tank: Ultum Nature Systems (UNS) 60U ( 2ft L x 14.7" W x 14.7 H)
Background: UNS ATMOS LED Background (will be for the near future)
Lighting: ONF Flat One+ Blue White version
Filtration & Heating: Oase Filtosmart Thermo 100
Flow: AI Nero 3
Substrate: 40lbs of CaribSea special grade sand
Rock: 28 pounds of Icelandic Lava Rock (a lot of people don't know you can use lava rock in Saltwater. It's extremely porous, doesn't affect the chemistry, and makes for a cool contrast).
The neat part about the stocking is everything is readily available captive bred so this tank should be 95% Captive Bred (that other 5% is incase I find anything cool that's not captive bred, like a flaming prawn goby). This list can change but I'm pretty set on it. All of these fish can be found in the Coral Triangle which is why I'm going with them.
-Pair of Pink Skunk Clownfish (Amphiprion perideraion)
-Banggai Cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni)
Either a Blue Striped Pipefish or Blue Mandarin, I'm still debating on which
to go with but leaning more towards the Mandarin. Either way, it will be from
Biota.
-Small eviota gobies to round out to foreground midwater.
Plants: 4 - 6 Red Mangroves, I'll have to see how many will fit to make it look lush. These are the best option since they're pretty easy to grow and don't need to be misted.
Macroalgae: Mainly keeping it to Indo-Pacific species. Will get into the
specific species once I get them. Halimeda will definitely have a spot since that's one of the most common genus in Mangrove lagoons, I just need to figure out what species.
Corals: Mainly softies as I mentioned, things like; Toadstools (especially
since Fiji just opened back up, definitely gotta have a Fiji Yellow!), Xenia, Gorgonians, Goniopora or Alveopora, Mushrooms, etc.
I'm really excited to get this going. Hopefully it turns out how like how I
envision it. I will most likely keep a youtube series on this which will be
started later. The rest of the rock and hanging kit is coming by Saturday (hopefully the rock comes tomorrow so I can get it up). Will post an updated
shot once it's full and scaped but for now enjoy this blank canvas lol

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

The water is still clearing up so it's a little cloudy but here's the final product! There's another rock behind the big ledge piece but so far the Scape turned out how I wanted it to look. Let's see if the Macros and Corals can do the rest!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

The Light Hanging Kit came the other day after about a week delay (thanks FedEx) and it makes the setup look a lot cleaner! I love the look, I ordered some things from Mosaic Macros that should be coming next week. A couple red and green macros to start off the tank. I'll also try adding some rubble of the lava rock to see how it looks since someone suggested doing it to make the immersion better which sounds right.

 

[NanoJHB]

So exciting! I'm living my lagoon dreams through you mate. The set up is looking amazing

 

[Aeb1419]

Love the rockscape!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

A few days ago I received some Macros from Mosaic Macros, and im really happy since some of these I've been wanting for a long time.
•String of Pearl's (Coelarthrum sp.)
•Red Hex (Rhodopeltis sp.)
•Caulerpa Ashmedii
•Sawblade Algae (Neurymenia fraxinifolia)

The String of Pearl's specifically I've been after for years. It's awesome to see a store specializing in the rare Macros now. I love GCE but a lot of their stock is seasonal so it's nice to have both options.

The uglies are now appearing so I think it's a good time to start adding some CUC. After that, I'll start introducing corals then fish. As much as I'd like to add the pair of clowns right now, I'd like to get some corals going first just to give the fish some cover once they go in. Also gotta take advantage of these sales going on atm lol

 

[CBonito]

Algae has some interesting growth forms in its own right. That one on the top though...it's the great satan.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I have never sern or heard today of this and its twice today. This will be a hot item soon lol

 

[Sixdinnersquid]

The Light Hanging Kit came the other day after about a week delay (thanks FedEx) and it makes the setup look a lot cleaner! I love the look, I ordered some things from Mosaic Macros that should be coming next week. A couple red and green macros to start off the tank. I'll also try adding some rubble of the lava rock to see how it looks since someone suggested doing it to make the immersion better which sounds right.

This is beautiful. Eager to follow along.

A while back I did something similar to your substrate buildup for mangroves, for the same reason. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I underestimated my pistol shrimp's ability to bulldoze everything flat.

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

I can finally show them off! I've had these two for almost a week now but it wasn't till about last night they started coming out more and today they're out all the time. Meet the main pair and first inhabitants of the tank: The Pink Skunk Clownfish! (Amphiprion perideraion)
The skunk clown complex is less popular in the hobby compared to your Ocellaris and Percs, but just as stunning, if not more in opinion. These naturally originate in the Indo-Pacific, usually in Inshore Reefs and Mangrove lagoons which made them the perfect fit for this tank. I like these a little more than their Orange cousins because of the vertical stripe they have by gill plate which the Orange skunks don't. They have a lovely light pink color that I think will contrast nicely against the corals and macros. These two are captive bred by ORA and were delivered via SaltwaterAquarium.com (they came straight from ORA). Unfortunately, as it always seems with FedEx, there was a one day delay and when they came in, were pretty stressed and because of their size, I wasn't sure if they'd make it. Slowly but surely, they're starting to come out more and are venturing out from the ledge piece of lava rock which is awesome to see. So far the female is showing that behavior to show the male that she's the dominate one. I'm very excited to see these two grow. So far they're eating Reef Nutrition PacPocs, ArctiPods, ROE, and small pieces of Hikari Mysis. I'm still debating on adding a small anemone for them in the tank since their natural anemones they inhabit in the wild are Magnifica and Gigantea Carpet Nems which are too big for this tank. A small bubble tip could work, or they could inhabit the longer polyp toadstools. We'll see.
I think I mentioned it earlier but unless I change the stocking, this tank should be 95% captive bred fish (that other 5% is if I find something cool like a Flaming Prawn Goby).

The Caulerpa Ashmaedii is growing super fast, I've always heard this species was slow growing but it must be doing well in this tank since it's taking off. This species of Caulerpa has blades that can reach lengths of 12+in long so I'm hoping a background of this + the Red Sawblade algae will work out and make it look stunning. I'm hoping to add a CUC crew in here soon. After that, it'll probably be more Macros and Corals and then it'll be off from there.

 

[Ott0]

Really nice, following along.

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Getting bolder by the day, now they're venturing out all over the tank but will retreat back to the rock if I get too close and spook them. I noticed the female is very defensive against the camera, I'm guessing she sees her reflection in the lens and get's territorial.
I'm hoping next week to add some CUC in here, specifically some Astrea, Cerith, a Tiger Conch, and a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp. I did move over a big Cerith and some dwarf ceriths from my NPS tank over and they seem to be doing well so far so I'm confident the new additions will be fine.

 

[duganderson]

Love this tank. I'd love to see a current full tank shot

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Love this tank. I'd love to see a current full tank shot

That's on the agenda, I did order a few things from MosaicMacros that should be on the way sometime soon. Once those are in, I'll make sure to get a FTS.

This week was very exciting as a lot of new additions were made. First was a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, one of my all time favorite inverts. This species doesn't really fit the Mesophotic Theme for my NPS Tank so I made sure to put one in here where it fits much more.
The next were mainly CUC: Astrea, Cerith, and Trochus Snails & A Strawberry Conch. I also added a Feather Duster and Purple Plume Gorg for aesthetics. The Gorg is slowly opening up and the Feather Duster is also starting to come out, I'm trying to move it around to see where it'd fit best.
Hopefully I'll get some more shots soon, but for now here's that Cleaner Shrimp

 

[duganderson]

You have beautiful photography skills throughhout your build. What camera, lens, filter, etc. do you use?

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

You have beautiful photography skills throughhout your build. What camera, lens, filter, etc. do you use?

Thank you! My Camera is a Sony A7iv, and my main lens I use for Fish Photography is the Sony 90mm Macro. However I do also use the Sigma 24-70 from time to time. I also do some post editing in Lightroom. No filters yet, though I want to get an orange filter lens to get better shots of Actinic setups