40 breeder Mangrove lagoon

[Joel_155]

Hi all,
So mentally planning my next build and want to get ideas and see if this will work. I've had a tank of some size since 2012. My wife and I had our son two years ago and we moved a y around ago so a full on reef tank has not been the priority. Now that my son is a bit older I want to get out of the 20g AIO nano I have and back into something with a sump and a bigger tank.

Ideally I'd like to have something that I could have some coral but nothing major. I was thinking of something of a mangrove lagoon. Something that will still be enjoyable but not require a ton of tweaking to keep balanced.

Ideally I want to run a small sump with a filter sock, a heater, maybe a fuge for extra mangroves/macro algae and then a return. For the DT ID like to have a rock scape and then a few mangroves along with my fish.


Will this work like I think? Maintenance would be a weekly water change to keep things going.

Thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

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[WheatyBits12]

I see no reason this couldn't work.

 

[Joel_155]

Cool. How many mangroves would I need to keep the po4 in check? I was thinking of having just a handful in the display and the having more in the sump or substitute cheato. My worry about cheato is that it will out consume the mangroves and kill them.

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[WheatyBits12]

Chaeto will out consume most things, so that's a valid fear.
On the mangroves, to be honest I'm not sure.
However, consider this.
When you first start a tank, you don't have phosphate, and the water is almost too clean.
(unless you have improperly cured rock leaching it or a poor water source.)
My point is, you have a little wiggle room, so why not come up with a starting amount that sounds reasonable to you, and if they don't keep up with phosphate production by the tank, add more?

 

[Joel_155]

Yeah that's a good idea. I figure I would start with just sand and rock and cycle and then as you start seeing the algae bloom then add mangroves to consume the Po4. The other option is to use a few pieces of completely cycled rock from my 20g nano. That would be the easiest however I want to make sure this system is completely free of pests. My current setup doesn't have any however I saw 1 aiptasia at one point but yanked that piece out. I would rather start with dry rock and cycle with pure ammonia.

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[Michael Hoaster]

Sounds very cool!

There's no need to wait on adding the mangroves after a cycle. The bacteria actually compete with plants, so getting them in first will give them a foothold. Add some fish right away too, to feed them.

Mangroves are beautiful. They're not fast-growing, so they aren't super nutrient sponges, like macros, so you may want to include a macro or two. Also, they complicate your lighting situation, as you'll need to light the tank, plus the growing trees. But what you're proposing sounds awesome! Good luck!

 

[Joel_155]

Sounds very cool!

There's no need to wait on adding the mangroves after a cycle. The bacteria actually compete with plants, so getting them in first will give them a foothold. Add some fish right away too, to feed them.

Mangroves are beautiful. They're not fast-growing, so they aren't super nutrient sponges, like macros, so you may want to include a macro or two. Also, they complicate your lighting situation, as you'll need to light the tank, plus the growing trees. But what you're proposing sounds awesome! Good luck!

Okay good info! I'm still in the planning stages at this point. I have a 40 gallon breeder already and I just ordered a shadow overflow from bulk reef supply. I don't want them the crowd the display and want to have a few placed correctly to fit with the aquascape.

In my head I was planning on using kessil a160s for lighting but I want to make sure that will work. Sump wise I'm not planning on having a protein skimmer as that would be counter productive and wanted to have a refugium as the main source of filtration.

The idea is to have a tank that isn't as demanding as a full on reef but I still want a fe pieces of coral. I figure it's all about balance and taking it slow.

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[Joel_155]

So first shot of equipment. This is going to be a slow build (my goal is to have it up and running by the end of the year) so don't expect super fast updates.

Super excited about the shadow overflow. Been waiting for this type of overflow since I heard about them.

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[Joel_155]

Hi all, question for you guys. So I think I've decided on my sump and basically I'm going to use it to house a refugium to supplement nutrient exportation but I don't want to kill the mangroves in the DT.

What are the options on macro for the refugium? I think Chaeto will suck up everything and kill the mangroves. More mangroves or a different type of macro?

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[WheatyBits12]

There are LOTS of different kinds of Macros, so you have plenty of options.
Do you want something purely utilitarian, or do you want a Refugium that actually looks cool?
Both can be accomplished easily and for about the same price.

 

[fabulousfavia]

You probably want to look into getting an acrylic aquarium as glass aquariums can sometimes be cracked by the mangrove roots.


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[Michael Hoaster]

I know you're psyched with your new overflow, but a mangrove tank doesn't need a sump. As you pointed out, it just makes room for nutrient competitors, like chaeto. Good light and water movement are really all you need, and you don't need a sump for that. Plants, skimmers, and biological filtration all compete with your mangroves for nutrients.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

As a devil's advocate (and as someone who has the shadow overflow and loves it), having a sump can't hurt. Even if you won't be running a skimmer or reactors at this point, it gives a nice spot to conceal the heater. There might be a benefit to filter socks, too, just to remove particulates in the water for clarity. Plus, you might want to add a lot of waste producers to the tank beyond what can be exported by the mangroves, and you want to add a skimmer or chaeto or something. From my understanding, mangroves grow so slowly that they are kind of inefficient at nutrient export (unless you have forests of them, like in the lagoons bordering the ocean).

 

[fabulousfavia]

I know you're psyched with your new overflow, but a mangrove tank doesn't need a sump. As you pointed out, it just makes room for nutrient competitors, like chaeto. Good light and water movement are really all you need, and you don't need a sump for that. Plants, skimmers, and biological filtration all compete with your mangroves for nutrients.

Agreed. Also if you don't have any fish then you won't even need filtration. A word of advice is to buy the mangroves when they are propagules.


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[Joel_155]

The tank is drilled! Took me forever to actually do it but it worked out well. Not all that hard either, just needs patience and to remember that the drill bit needs to do the work.

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[Michael Hoaster]

That's a very clean overflow. Nice work! What's next?

 

[Joel_155]

Stand build. Also I wonder if I need to move this thread. I've kinda decided to change the scope of the tank. I eventually want coral but also want a low maintenance tank. Thinking of fish only with a refugium for a filter along with macro filtration (socks)

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