Mangrove lagoon

[pgravis]

Nice, I too have a mangrove reef, looking forward to seeing your build! Best of luck with this project

Would love to hear about any tips with the mangroves. Hoping I can get them to thrive!

 

[pgravis]

Thank you to everyone, I appreciate the kind words. It’s been a fun project and a good distraction from grad school that started today.

 

[c.poindexter]

That looks awesome. Great quality.

 

[pgravis]

My wife loves to laugh at me, because I can make split second decisions and keep people alive at work, but trying to decide something simple? forget it! That decision fatigue was strong today! Spent 30 minutes at the LFS staring at the sand trying to decide between Fiji pink, and reef. I’ve heard so many bad things about the Fiji pink that I ultimately decided against it-but have been thinking about switching since I left the store. And of course I didn’t buy enough-should have opted for the 40 lb bag. Anyone have any experience with the finer grain sand they want to share?

Also picked up my gate valve, and a power center for the side of the stand, as we often use the plug that is now covered for phones and computers.

 

[pgravis]

Got the tank plumbed last night. Took way too many trips to Lowe’s! Ended up doing schedule 80 on the top end of the tank, with regular schedule 40 in the basement. Ran it all down through a floor duct so I didn’t have to make any holes in the walls (only in the duct!). Didn’t get any great photos due to my hands being covered in pvc primer, and my phone dying earlier than expected.
I haven’t made any firm decisions on sand. Since I need another bag anyway, I’ve considered just buying a bag of the Fiji pink and mixing them. I have a meeting today, so I’m hoping I get out of it early enough to stop at the LFS and pick one up. Also trying to decide on rock. I have all the original real reef rock from 20 nuvo I pulled down, but since it’s been in the fuge, it has a bit of caulerpa growing on it. But, I’m way over budget (schedule 80 adds up quick!), so I might try and save a little on the rock. I’ll try and get pics of the plumbing I can now.
Next step, level the stand and get the sand in.

 

[pgravis]

Main floor view (with new power strip):

Behind the stand:

Basement view (not nearly as clean of glue joints!)

Finally, a couple (horrible) pics of the anemones hanging out in the fuge waiting for a proper home:

 

[pgravis]

Finally started getting the tank wet!
Leveled the tank. Added sand (went with a combo of Fiji pink and reef grade), put some
Mangroves in and a little water (3 gallons of existing tank water, 1 new). Added a bubbler to keep the water moving. Once it clears, I’ll add the rest of the water, rescape the trees, add in some rock, and kick it on to the rest of the system (assuming my plumbing doesn’t leak!).

 

[pgravis]

Would be interested to hear what fish people would put in here. It’ll have anemones, and I want to do some sexy shrimp. Let’s hear what your suggestions are

 

[pgravis]

Water cleared surprisingly fast, so I finished filling it up and turned on the flow. I’m actually a bit surprised it went so smoothly. No leaks, pump handled the extra flow like a boss! Had to throttle up the main line going to the 60 display, but overall it is handling it all great. Still working out the adjustments to get the new tank to run quiet, but as you can see/hear in the video-it’s doing pretty well. Next step is still rock and finding a mate for the clown so I can put them in at the same time. But great major progress today!

 

[pgravis]

Not sure what’s up with video. But here are a couple pics.

 

[DibsOnMcRibs]

Awesome concept. Love tanks that incorporate mangroves

 

[pelican]

Looking good! That stand is awesome. I'm hoping to finish my plumbing and get flow going in my tank this weekend.

 

[pgravis]

Getting some great natural sunlight in the tank! Got to love the natural shimmer!

 

[pgravis]

my kids have been so excited to get fish in the tank. My daughter has been hounding me about getting her clownfish out of the basement and in “her” new tank so she can enjoy her fish and tank! So today for my birthday, my wife takes us all to the LFS to pick out a fish. I tell my kids that if they want the clown to move out of the basement, they would need to pick another clownfish, as I didn’t want to deal with any tank aggression of one establishing a territory waiting for another clown to come in, and I knew my daughter definitely wanted another clown. So, there are a lot of great options at the store, but my daughter is insistent on her picking it out, as it’s her fish that needs a friend! So, without too many parameters from me, she finds the one she wants and has it bagged up. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, or maybe even my second, but seeing how excited she was made it worth it. So now we have a midnight lightning clown (the original from her nano) with a misbar mocha. Added at the same time-they both went straight to the anemone. The midnight has been inseparable from the nems for a while now, but I was impressed the mocha went straight in. Based on size, I’m sure it’s never seen an anemone before. Also, had to move the nems up for the clowns, so now I have caulerpa covered rock in the tank as I wait for the 18 boxes of reel reef rock to show up on Tuesday at the LFS so I can go pick some better looking rock!
Anyway, the one decent pic I snapped of the new pair.

 

[InkedReefLady]

Looking good! My new Waterbox Frag 45.2 came yesterday and I am moving our mangroves, anemones (long tentacle) and clowns over to it eventually.

Your build here is great inspiration to keep that idea moving forward!

How much longer until you think they can all be moved over?

 

[pgravis]

Looking good! My new Waterbox Frag 45.2 came yesterday and I am moving our mangroves, anemones (long tentacle) and clowns over to it eventually.

Your build here is great inspiration to keep that idea moving forward!

How much longer until you think they can all be moved over?

Thank you! Glad I can inspire someone! That waterbox is a great size tank. I’ll be excited to see it come together. Is it a standalone tank, or will it be plumbed in with something else? Standalone I think it’s worth letting it cycle before moving your stuff over-well I don’t know if I’d wait to get the mangroves over. I can’t imagine them being negatively effected by a cycle. As far as the other stuff, when I started my daughters nano, I put nems in it pretty quick (after a proper cycle-aided with dr Tim’s or something similar).

 

[InkedReefLady]

Thank you! Glad I can inspire someone! That waterbox is a great size tank. I’ll be excited to see it come together. Is it a standalone tank, or will it be plumbed in with something else? Standalone I think it’s worth letting it cycle before moving your stuff over-well I don’t know if I’d wait to get the mangroves over. I can’t imagine them being negatively effected by a cycle. As far as the other stuff, when I started my daughters nano, I put nems in it pretty quick (after a proper cycle-aided with dr Tim’s or something similar).

Thanks, I'm super excited!

It's not being plumbed to another tank (in another room). I am using some dead rock but will be seeding it with filter sponges from our 300 gallon and water from a water change we just did. I'm obviously cool with waiting.

Guess I'll need to start my own build thread this weekend when the tank gets wet!

Please keep us posted on your set up! I'm especially interested to see how your mangroves do!

 

[pgravis]

Finally got some rock for the tank. My lfs got 18 boxes of real reef in yesterday and I had the chance to crack a couple boxes open and pick a few pieces out.

Moving anemones hasn’t been fun, but I’ve transferred 6 from old rock/holding containers, and have 3 stubborn ones to go! Love the branch rock-so so on the rest. But I wanted something the nems would easily attach to. Probably shift things around a little-but this is more or less where it’ll be.

 

[pgravis]

Couple less blue shots:

 

[InkedReefLady]

I love the idea you are using to hold the mangroves up with the clear plastic rods! Where did you get yours? I see them at frag swaps, but not online..? How are you affixing the mangroves to the rods?