Shallow Mangrove Lagoon - Custom Build - Indian River Lagoon Biome
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Viking_Reefing
Valuable Member
Man, that is so freaking cool!Tank has been up and running for a few days and I’m really pleased with it! Water is clearing nicely. I’m very glad things worked out with the Kessils. Disregard the janky light mount. I am working on a pretty cool mounting concept. Hope to get to that over the weekend.
Have you considered adding some small pieces of live rock around its roots? I think that could look pretty good.
I’ve been considering a display fuge with mangroves for my next build and this didn’t exactly deter me haha!
Thanks! And yeah I'm starting to think about what to add and when. The plan is to grow macros and stay fairly simple with the fish, probably a school of small porkfish which I can get locally. From there I would like to try to find some interesting and local inverts.
Does anybody have advice on when to add macros? I have a second Tuna Sun Kessil that I will add to the other side of the tank once those go in.
Does anybody have advice on when to add macros? I have a second Tuna Sun Kessil that I will add to the other side of the tank once those go in.
U
User1
Guest
Here are a couple update photos of the tank up and cycled. I am hoping to start adding livestock in the next week or so.
Looks great. How does the mangrove do in full saltwater? I've heard they do fine, some say better in brackish, others say to grow in fresh then move later to salt. I've been considering something like you just set up here for a window that I have in my office. It would get a lot of natural sunlight so wanted to give it a try. Mangrove plus some sea grass and small fish.
Beautiful job. Also I like the lights in the kitchen! Not trying to be nosy but they caught my eye as I'm trying to find something for ours!
In my experience, the saltwater vs freshwater doesn’t make a huge difference with growth. The biggest factor is light. I am growing a few mangroves outside in a large freshwater cichlid tank. They grow much faster than this big one. While they are in different types of water, I suspect the natural sunlight is having the biggest effect.
With that said, if you are transitioning a plant from salt to fresh or vice versa, it’s best to do it gradually.
I did think about doing this as a brackish tank but I wanted a few more livestock options. And while our section of the Indian river lagoon is brackish, we are so close to the inlet that it’s on the saltier side anyway.
I’m still waiting for this tank to cycle so I figured I’d post some pictures of a few experimental mangroves while we wait.
I have a large (don’t know how many gallons) pond/fountain outside at my house. I keep African cichlids as well as a few South Americans.
I decided to experiment with growing mangroves in this tank as it receives a lot of natural sunlight. I also wanted to see if there was any real difference between growing in fresh or saltwater.
The small pods are floating thanks to a bit of foam with a hole in it. They have been in the tank for about a month and started from bare pods. They are showing some really nice root growth. I hope to be able to develop the roots into interesting prop roots over time.
The bigger plants I purchased off eBay. They were about 18” long when I got them and were very stalky. They all had weird bends to them when I got them which made them not very ideal for Aquascaping. They have been outside for a few months. I use them as my test dummies for experiments like trimming growth tips, etc.
I have a large (don’t know how many gallons) pond/fountain outside at my house. I keep African cichlids as well as a few South Americans.
I decided to experiment with growing mangroves in this tank as it receives a lot of natural sunlight. I also wanted to see if there was any real difference between growing in fresh or saltwater.
The small pods are floating thanks to a bit of foam with a hole in it. They have been in the tank for about a month and started from bare pods. They are showing some really nice root growth. I hope to be able to develop the roots into interesting prop roots over time.
The bigger plants I purchased off eBay. They were about 18” long when I got them and were very stalky. They all had weird bends to them when I got them which made them not very ideal for Aquascaping. They have been outside for a few months. I use them as my test dummies for experiments like trimming growth tips, etc.
Water parameters are indicating that we've made it through the cycle so I've started adding a bit of livestock. I had quite a large diatom bloom so I started with 4 turbo and 4 nassarius snails. I ordered some ceriths and a few Florida Cross Barred Venus clams from John at ReefCleaners.org. Those are meant to be delivered this week.
I also visited John at Florida Pets as he is just a few miles from my house. He is licensed to collect specimens locally and had quite a nice selection of healthy seagrasses and livestock from the Indian River Lagoon. I picked up a few sprigs of turtle grass as well as a trio of saltwater Mollies. These guys are crushing the diatoms in the tank.
I also visited John at Florida Pets as he is just a few miles from my house. He is licensed to collect specimens locally and had quite a nice selection of healthy seagrasses and livestock from the Indian River Lagoon. I picked up a few sprigs of turtle grass as well as a trio of saltwater Mollies. These guys are crushing the diatoms in the tank.
Slowly adding some macros and more inhabitants. One of my two female sailfin mollies decided to leap out of the tank in the middle of the night which was a bummer. The other two are very happy and are busy keeping the diatoms at bay.
I also added an Atlantic Blue Tang to the tank. My hope is that as the macros grow, he’ll be able to do some of the pruning for me. I know they can get pretty large so I’ll have to keep an eye on him. He’s only about an inch long now.
The vertex is pulling all kind of junk out of the water. Pretty happy with that.
The water does have a slight tint to it. I’m not too worried about it, hopefully it’ll clear up on its own. I’m running a bag of carbon in the sump and got a filter sock I need to add.
I also added an Atlantic Blue Tang to the tank. My hope is that as the macros grow, he’ll be able to do some of the pruning for me. I know they can get pretty large so I’ll have to keep an eye on him. He’s only about an inch long now.
The vertex is pulling all kind of junk out of the water. Pretty happy with that.
The water does have a slight tint to it. I’m not too worried about it, hopefully it’ll clear up on its own. I’m running a bag of carbon in the sump and got a filter sock I need to add.
Victoria M
5000 Club Member
Welcome to Reef2Reef. lovely set up. It is one of the most original set ups I have ever seen. I saw a amazing mangrove tank in MACNA this year and it had me yearning to set something like this up. I will post a picture of it later. You roll the stand away from the wall the access the sump? how is that working for you?
Thanks so much! Yeah, I roll the stand out from the wall. I think it's a great solution but it's definitely not the easiest way to build a stand for maintenance. On a flat, hard floor this is an awesome solution. My flooring in this room is marble with large mortar joints. The stand rolls really well on the marble but kind of gets stuck in the grout lines. I just put down a thin piece of cardboard like what a 12 pack of drinks comes in and that makes it roll a lot smoother. I turn off the pumps, let the display drain to the sump and then roll it out so nothing splashes. It's extra work every time but worth it to me for the look.
Over time I will be designing systems that allow me to avoid moving the stand. I need to set up an ATO and a way to clear skimmate. That would allow me to only have to move the stand once a month or so.
Victoria M
5000 Club Member
Only have time for a very brief reply. This thread certainly merits more!
gotmesalty77
Well-Known Member
I saw that tank this year and I can tell you that's now my next tank goal I'm going to replace my end table in the living room with it eventually. I just love the minimalist design that Cube tall mangrove something about it really catches me in the process of trying to talk my significant other into it we will see
Oh wow! That is insane! That is one happy mangrove. I also dig the super shallow set up in the background. I live only about an hour from Orlando and had planned to go to MACNA but got stifled with the supposed impending doom of the hurricane. Wish I had gone so I could have seen this...Only have time for a very brief reply. This thread certainly merits more!
Filipabp
Community Member
This is absolutely awesome. I love the aesthetics and I wish I had just a small percent of your craftsmanship. Love to see people care for the look as you do, and I really dig the solution you came up with in regards to the overflow.
I have dreams of making a very long shallow tank with part mangroves and part normal reef aquarium when I move to a bigger place, and reading this thread just makes me look that much more forward to it.
Do you spray the leaves with freshwater to rinse off salt every day?
I have dreams of making a very long shallow tank with part mangroves and part normal reef aquarium when I move to a bigger place, and reading this thread just makes me look that much more forward to it.
Do you spray the leaves with freshwater to rinse off salt every day?
I keep this tank and standard marine salinity around 1.025.
Thanks, glad you like it! I do spray the leaves regularly but not to remove salt. Red mangroves do not actually excrete any salt through their leaves, black and white mangroves do. I spray the leaves to keep them clean and free of dust and because I've convinced myself that the plant likes it haha.
Filipabp
Community Member
What the H, youre right?! All the articles ive read in the past always wrote about the need for sprays, but looking it up now I see youre completely right - red mangrove does salt exclusion rather than excretion.. Im glad I asked, my future project just became a whole lot easier to pull off lol. Thanks!
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