Planted Saltwater 20g

[FisheriesOmen]

I've had this tank for a few months as an upgrade to my 10g reef I had going on. When all the corals started to degrade and eventually die or be given away I decided to take this in a different direction.

This tank is now going to be for Red Mangroves. I was able to get 1 Mangrove at the Frag Swap we had a few weeks ago and so it begins!

Fauna:
-Strombus Maculatus colony
-Cerith Snails
-Mini-Stars
-Bristle Worms (not fireworms)
-MamaMia Worms
-1 Brown Blotch Snail
-Pulsing Xenia
-Red Mangrove
-Chaeto

The goal of this whole thing is to have no filtration on this tank and will go into further detail of what I plan on doing once this gets under way.

If anyone knows of any good tropical Macro Algae (ie. 78F)





All the tiny snails are the Strombus Maculatus.

[andrewss]

very interesting, lookin forward to seeing where this one goes

[FisheriesOmen]

Just ordered 15 Mangroves off Ebay.

Can't wait!

[somewhatshocked]

Oooh - just discovered this journal. Great!

I think you're really going to enjoy have a thicket of mangroves. What variety did you pick up on eBay?

Thanks for motivating me to do something like this in one of my refugiums.

[FisheriesOmen]

Originally Posted by somewhatshocked

Oooh - just discovered this journal. Great!

I think you're really going to enjoy have a thicket of mangroves. What variety did you pick up on eBay?

Thanks for motivating me to do something like this in one of my refugiums.

Thanks! Glad you're motivated to try something like this
These are Red Mangroves and I'm debating if I should go for air roots for all of them or just the 1 I have now.

Builds of Mangrove tanks seem scarce, so hopefully I can shed some light on the subject as my build progresses.


NOTE: If you want Red Mangroves I highly suggest getting them from Bamboo_Dynasty got 15 for only $20. (and they have multiple leaves and healthy roots). PM me and I can give you a link.

[FisheriesOmen]

Also I should say that, Nutrient Export wise, Mangroves are very in-effective unless they are in large numbers and/or are well aged (about 2-3yrs).

I would suggest 1/gallon of water. In freshwater they might be slightly more effective.

[eco]

I like what your doing with the mangroves. Living in hawaii I've always had saltwater tanks but only recently have I tried a planted brackish water Opae ula tank! So far so good!

[FisheriesOmen]

Originally Posted by eco

I like what your doing with the mangroves. Living in hawaii I've always had saltwater tanks but only recently have I tried a planted brackish water Opae ula tank! So far so good!

Thanks,
I am getting really into natural biotopes now instead of the usual SPS cluster Fest that people normally do.


I have decided to go with Aratus pisonii and Scylla serrata and maybe Uca pugnax for live stock. Not sure if I'm going to go with any fish as most natural fish are brackish and not pure saltwater.

[FisheriesOmen]

Mangroves are here!






Just laid them in there for now until I can get some styrofoam to make an "air root maker".

[rainbuilder]

Any updates? This is a really cool thread

[FisheriesOmen]

Sorry for the lack of updates.

But it continues!

The Mangroves were starting to look in pretty bad shape so I asked for help on my local reefing forums and I must've missed how much light baby mangroves actually need. So I quickly went to menards on New Years day and got me a fixture. I also did a large trimming of cheato (it took up over half the tank).

Also I have created a little "Mangrove Rack" to use to keep them straight till they have fully matured. Many of them have lost some roots when pushing them through the holes in the styrofoam.

I have also been recently intrigued in EG filtration and plan on incorporating that into my tank at a later date.

[FisheriesOmen]

I have also taken out the canister filter as I'm starting to transition it to a fully natural system.

[Newman]

are you going to put in a powerhead as a means of circulation and that's it? i don't think it would work without any flow at all...
looks like a good start.
I remember seeing nice builds with mangroves on nanoreef forums but can't seem to find the threads anymore

[Rob in Puyallup]

I'm watching now!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2

[FisheriesOmen]

Originally Posted by Newman

are you going to put in a powerhead as a means of circulation and that's it? i don't think it would work without any flow at all...
looks like a good start.
I remember seeing nice builds with mangroves on nanoreef forums but can't seem to find the threads anymore

I already have a small powerhead on the far left side but will probably add a better pump later on.