Mangrove bonsai tank

Cthulukelele

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Hi all!

So this is mainly for down the line as I am still dialing in my 120g, but I have a 4ft window facing southeast in my dining room, and I was really hoping to run a sunlit mangrove tank eventually. I am not opposed to adding a light if people think it would be necessary, but I would prefer the more natural look of it being lit by the sun if you all think that would be sufficient.

I was thinking something long (4' or so) and shallow. Maybe 40 gallons-ish.

My goal is to grow a mangrove at one end, and also include a bunch of macroalgae and a few very hardy fish.

The end goal is to have an incredibly hardy low maintenance system that will allow me to practice some bonsai on the mangrove. There will also likely be some soft coral.

My questions basically revolve around is this feasible, and what gear do you think I'd need?

I was thinking caribsea special grade aragonite sand, but I was also contemplating a mud bottom.

I imagine a couple powerheads, a heater, and an ATO would suffice. I may even to the water topoffs myself every few days.

Also what are a couple fish that might be good for a system like this? I'd want them quite hardy, but since there would be no real hard coral or inverts, it opens up a huge list of possibilities. There would be plenty of macroalgae established once I added some of the fish so herbivores would be fine as well.
 
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reef tank no go fowlr plus a chocolate chip star also a no go.
For sure! I love chocolate chip stars. I was thinking about a flame hawk as well, but I hear they are jumpers, and the design of this tank necessitates no lid. The only thing I am not certain of is if the window light will be enough. It is very bright, but it will take actually setting up the mangrove to find out.
 
you may need to supplement the light. Sunlight is very good at growing algea. My freshwater grew crazy algea till the swords and wendelov java ferns took off .

Hopefully the micro and mangrove will be able to combat that as well
 
you may need to supplement the light. Sunlight is very good at growing algea. My freshwater grew crazy algea till the swords and wendelov java ferns took off .

Hopefully the micro and mangrove will be able to combat that as well
My expectation is it being a garbage looking film algae disaster for 3-6 months until the macroalgae and mangrove take off.

The perfect storm of awful though would be if there isn't quite enough light for the macros and mangrove to take off but plenty for the nuisance microalgae.
 
Sunlight may heat up the tank as well.
I keep my house at 72 or below year-round, and this tank would be in a room connected to the central system (not a walled off office with poor circulation like my main tank lol). I imagine that would counterbalance any issues if I ran the tank at 78-80 all the time.
 
My expectation is it being a garbage looking film algae disaster for 3-6 months until the macroalgae and mangrove take off.

The perfect storm of awful though would be if there isn't quite enough light for the macros and mangrove to take off but plenty for the nuisance microalgae.
Maybe you could start them off in DT till 40 is ready to go
 
A few spotlights would really add to the tank. Something like a kessil, or even a par38 would be great that would really help out the softies and you could have flower anemones or something else really colourful pop vs look brown in the sunlight.
 
A few spotlights would really add to the tank. Something like a kessil, or even a par38 would be great that would really help out the softies and you could have flower anemones or something else really colourful pop vs look brown in the sunlight.
I am trying to keep it super simple. Maybe a couple clip to the side par38 lights on tall goosenecks?

Also what do you think for fish?

I was thinking maybe an anglerfish. I want a toby puffer, but I worry about having the tank uncovered and the 2 cats poisoning themselves :(
 

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