50 Long Mangrove fuge

[ericdirabalo1]

Hey everybody!!! i just purchased a 50 long acrylic tank. The dimensions are 60Lx14Wx12H. I am going to put more than 4 mangroves in the tank, they will be a mix of red and black mangroves. I will have a DSB using CaribSea Ocean Direct Oolite. But i was wondering what kind of invertebrates, fish, and macro algae I should add to the tank. I was also interested in putting a small Tang in the tank, maybe a Kole or Tomini. What type of lights would be good?
~Thanks, Eric

 

[renoeb]

I would do some basic LEDs and throw in some LPS a classic clean up crew and some hardy tangs. This set up may actually suppourt a kole but I always view kole tangs as rentals (very fickle, easily killed), and try to avoid keeping them
Sounds like a cool idea! Good luck!

 

[ericdirabalo1]

Do you think metal halides would be ttoo powerful?

 

[2tankz]

I've kept mangroves under MH with no problem.

 

[ericdirabalo1]

How many halides and what wattage?

 

[ericdirabalo1]

Bump?

 

[Steve175]

I have a 400W halide high over a 30G mangrove tank (could probably do fine with a 250W). I really didn't have great mangrove growth until I added a misting system: used 4 separate plant misters hooked to a pump run by a mangrove which mist the leaves for 5 minutes each hour the MH is on. Mangrove leaves needs regular fresh water for optimal growth. BTW, I have a couple of low flow LPS in my mangrove tank which were doing poorly with higher flow and fish in the main tank (the first time I have ever been able to grow bubble coral well as they do not like SPS flow nor angels).

 

[ericdirabalo1]

That misting system sounds pretty sweet!! How would you run that 1f you have a hardwood floor?

 

[Steve175]

Wouldn't do well over a hardwood floor unless you built a clear acryllic box to go on top of tank (like a greenhouse without a lid). Honestly, probably not worth the trouble if you are willing to spray them with a spray bottle once or twice a day (I an just horrible at daily tasks like that)

 

[2tankz]

We used 2 400w over a 90g.

 

[ericdirabalo1]

So do you think 2 250w halides would be good for a 60Lx12Hx14W tank?

 

[ericdirabalo1]

Alright so my stepfathers brother picked up a light fixture from our local free cycle. it came with two light fixtures, each has 2 175w metal halides and 2 florescents of some type, i dont know what. It came with three bulbs each of which are 10,000K. So i do need another bulb but all the bulbs, moguls, and ballasts that came with the fixtures work.