Dos Ocho
Community Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2017
- Messages
- 90
- Reaction score
- 185
- Location
- Nebraska
- What state or country do you live in
- Nebraska
I'll start this off by saying I am HORRIBLE at keeping my threads updated, so this may just be another snapshot in time, but I wanted to show off my 50 gallon Mangrove setup I started in January. I'll also say that this is 100% inspired by brad908's beautiful setups, nothing original here! Have not seen any posts from him in a while so hope his systems are doing well.
Anywho, wanted to get a 60 gallon Deep Blue frag tank, but they shut down in my area so went with the 50 gallon lowboy. Had the first two arrived damaged, but finally got a good one. I LOVE the dimensions of this tank. Worked very well for what i wanted to do. Here's the equipment breakdown:
Tank: 50 gallon lowboy (48" x 24" x 10") with Eclipse S overflow
Lighting: Hydrofarm T5 8 bulb x 2 foot fixture ; AI Prime HD
Heater: 300 W Finex Titanium Heater with Inkbird controller
Pumps and WaveMakers: Reef Octopus Varios-2 return (up and over return line split with 2 loclines), MP 10 and Tunze Nanostream 6055
ATO: Tunze Osmolator with 22 gallon reservoir
Sump: 20 gallon long with Oceanbox Design sump kit
Rock and Sand: Approx 50lbs dry rock (KP Aquatics), 10lbs Live Rock (KP Aquatics), 10lbs Oolite sand, 1 gallon Caribsea Mineral Mud, 40lbs Caribsea Fiji Pink, 40lbs Caribsea Select
Stand: DIY 2x4s and Pine slabs
The first step was to create the rock "pot" for the Mangroves. I bought a plastic 2' x 2' egg crate to support the structure on the bottom. Using most of the 50lbs of Dry Rock and a lot of superglue, I formed the main rock structure over a few days. I tried to plug as many holes as i could with rubble to prevent the sand from escaping once filled. After a dicey transfer into the tank, i was ready to roll.
I had around 10lbs of used Oolite sand from a 10 gallon setup that i mixed up with the mineral mud and fiji pink sand for the mangrove substrate. I used mainly Fiji pink around the main rock structure and the select on the other side of the tank. As i started to fill with water, the sand / mud mix started to sink into the pot so i just added sand as needed to top it off and stabilize the sand in the pot. Talk about a DSB!! About 9 inches of sand and mud in the pot. The sand around the rock is around 1.5 - 2 inches and tapers off to about an inch on the opposite side of the tank. The sump had some sand and rock in it. I decided to go cryptic in the sump so no lights. It now has a healthy collection of worms and sponges down there.
I started with freshwater because i was too lazy at the time to mix all that saltwater, and i was going to start with just the mangroves so figured it was not a big deal. Over the next 5 - 6 weeks, i converted it over to saltwater thru 5 gallon water changes. Started with 11 mangrove seed pods from KP Aquatics. Only 4 made it, so i later ordered another 4. Those last 4 were bigger and very healthy and i have all 8 sprouting now.
Once I was converted to salt, I had a Biocube that i was taking down and transferred as much as i could over. That included my 2 brave clownfish I have had for 2.5 years now. They have been thru so much with me learning to run reef tanks (1 tank crash, several transfers to holding tanks, etc...). They are my soldiers and I hope to have them in a permanent home now. I also transferred the 10lbs of live rock, a Mantis shrimp (smasher) and various snails and micro fauna.
The tank experienced the uglies and a few algae outbreaks. I tried using Flourish tabs for the mangroves. Bad idea, triggered a bad algae bloom. As the tank stabilized, I added some soft corals from my other tank, Anthelia, Xenia, a Gorgonian, and GSP. Also started a small zoa garden and bought a couple Leather Corals and a purple sponge. My last additions were 2 rock anemones from Gulf Coast Ecosystems. I tried some macoalgae, but it all just melted away.
A work friend started a small tank with his son and the kid lost interest, so I "rescued" his Blue Damselfish and put him in. He fought alot with the Clowns at first, but they have established territories now and get along just fine. No plans for any other fish at this time.
I had a Cyano outbreak about 4 months in and treated with Chemiclean. It did the trick and knocked it out. Unfortunately, a chemiclean treatment crashed my 40 long setup, but that's a story for another day. I'm working on getting that system back in action now.
Other than that, this has been a very sucessful tank. I feed once a day and spray the mangroves about 2 - 3 times a week. They are growing well and starting to develop good roots. I am trying to train some of the bigger ones with bonsai wire to keep the whole cluster at a uniform height as they grow.
Because of the devastating crash of my 40 gallon system, I have no major plans for additions or changes to this setup. Just keep it going and watch it grow. I have started a UV sterilizer because I'm getting some Cyano / Dino gunk developing and want to nip it in the bud. Not bad by any means, but Dinos destroyed my Biocube a while back and I don't want history to repeat itself.
That's about it, enjoy the pix! The first set are from the beginning.
Anywho, wanted to get a 60 gallon Deep Blue frag tank, but they shut down in my area so went with the 50 gallon lowboy. Had the first two arrived damaged, but finally got a good one. I LOVE the dimensions of this tank. Worked very well for what i wanted to do. Here's the equipment breakdown:
Tank: 50 gallon lowboy (48" x 24" x 10") with Eclipse S overflow
Lighting: Hydrofarm T5 8 bulb x 2 foot fixture ; AI Prime HD
Heater: 300 W Finex Titanium Heater with Inkbird controller
Pumps and WaveMakers: Reef Octopus Varios-2 return (up and over return line split with 2 loclines), MP 10 and Tunze Nanostream 6055
ATO: Tunze Osmolator with 22 gallon reservoir
Sump: 20 gallon long with Oceanbox Design sump kit
Rock and Sand: Approx 50lbs dry rock (KP Aquatics), 10lbs Live Rock (KP Aquatics), 10lbs Oolite sand, 1 gallon Caribsea Mineral Mud, 40lbs Caribsea Fiji Pink, 40lbs Caribsea Select
Stand: DIY 2x4s and Pine slabs
The first step was to create the rock "pot" for the Mangroves. I bought a plastic 2' x 2' egg crate to support the structure on the bottom. Using most of the 50lbs of Dry Rock and a lot of superglue, I formed the main rock structure over a few days. I tried to plug as many holes as i could with rubble to prevent the sand from escaping once filled. After a dicey transfer into the tank, i was ready to roll.
I had around 10lbs of used Oolite sand from a 10 gallon setup that i mixed up with the mineral mud and fiji pink sand for the mangrove substrate. I used mainly Fiji pink around the main rock structure and the select on the other side of the tank. As i started to fill with water, the sand / mud mix started to sink into the pot so i just added sand as needed to top it off and stabilize the sand in the pot. Talk about a DSB!! About 9 inches of sand and mud in the pot. The sand around the rock is around 1.5 - 2 inches and tapers off to about an inch on the opposite side of the tank. The sump had some sand and rock in it. I decided to go cryptic in the sump so no lights. It now has a healthy collection of worms and sponges down there.
I started with freshwater because i was too lazy at the time to mix all that saltwater, and i was going to start with just the mangroves so figured it was not a big deal. Over the next 5 - 6 weeks, i converted it over to saltwater thru 5 gallon water changes. Started with 11 mangrove seed pods from KP Aquatics. Only 4 made it, so i later ordered another 4. Those last 4 were bigger and very healthy and i have all 8 sprouting now.
Once I was converted to salt, I had a Biocube that i was taking down and transferred as much as i could over. That included my 2 brave clownfish I have had for 2.5 years now. They have been thru so much with me learning to run reef tanks (1 tank crash, several transfers to holding tanks, etc...). They are my soldiers and I hope to have them in a permanent home now. I also transferred the 10lbs of live rock, a Mantis shrimp (smasher) and various snails and micro fauna.
The tank experienced the uglies and a few algae outbreaks. I tried using Flourish tabs for the mangroves. Bad idea, triggered a bad algae bloom. As the tank stabilized, I added some soft corals from my other tank, Anthelia, Xenia, a Gorgonian, and GSP. Also started a small zoa garden and bought a couple Leather Corals and a purple sponge. My last additions were 2 rock anemones from Gulf Coast Ecosystems. I tried some macoalgae, but it all just melted away.
A work friend started a small tank with his son and the kid lost interest, so I "rescued" his Blue Damselfish and put him in. He fought alot with the Clowns at first, but they have established territories now and get along just fine. No plans for any other fish at this time.
I had a Cyano outbreak about 4 months in and treated with Chemiclean. It did the trick and knocked it out. Unfortunately, a chemiclean treatment crashed my 40 long setup, but that's a story for another day. I'm working on getting that system back in action now.
Other than that, this has been a very sucessful tank. I feed once a day and spray the mangroves about 2 - 3 times a week. They are growing well and starting to develop good roots. I am trying to train some of the bigger ones with bonsai wire to keep the whole cluster at a uniform height as they grow.
Because of the devastating crash of my 40 gallon system, I have no major plans for additions or changes to this setup. Just keep it going and watch it grow. I have started a UV sterilizer because I'm getting some Cyano / Dino gunk developing and want to nip it in the bud. Not bad by any means, but Dinos destroyed my Biocube a while back and I don't want history to repeat itself.
That's about it, enjoy the pix! The first set are from the beginning.
