Hi Everyone,
After reviewing Bob Fenner's Marine Aquarist Book, I've decided to turn an empty 75 gallon tank into a lagoon. The picture in the book made it look fun. I've mostly done the big block of rock setups in the past, so I'm going to try something new. If you haven't seen the book, it will be a giant capital letter "C" in the center of the tank.
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My first issue is the setup. I plan to get a bunch of dry rock and glue/weld/cement it into the lagoon shape. Then seed with live rock. There will be room on the front and back for circulation, maybe 4 inches in front and back, leaving about 10 inches by 40 inches for the lagoon. I think dry rock is the way to go because it will take some work to make sure the lagoon is stable and that the inside is fully visible from different angles.
This won't be a reef tank, so I'm thinking about adding a few pieces of plastic rock structures with artificial corals. But the fake corals are a secret, so please don't tell any reef keepers I said anything about that
I'm not confident about my ability to clean those fake corals in the tank. And I'm not confident in my ability to create a realistic or stable format where most of it is live rock welded with two pieces of plastic rock. And then I need to figure out how to regularly remove the fake corals and put them in a vinegar solution without killing any fish that might live inside. I will probably put the fake coral rocks inside the lagoon (i.e. not incorporate the plastic rocks into the lagoon wall) so that they are easy to remove and replace. Of course I could just take the rock/coral decor back to Petco, but it was on sale. And I think the splash of color would be fun.
The dry rock will have a small stand of blue artificial acropora and a small stand of two pieces of fake pink acropora (different fake corals from those mentioned above). Perhaps other fake corals as well. If I can figure out a way to attach the fake corals securely while also allowing them to be easily removed for cleaning.
But the more important question is livestock:
It will be a large goby tank, including a firefish (my favorite), a yellow-headed jawfish or two, bar gobies, a flasher wrasse, clown gobies, royal gramma, chalk bass, blennies and other small peaceful fish. The jawfish will require lots of sand, so I plan on getting some really big rock pieces to be the base and then burying it in 6 inches of sand. This will cut down on the amount of sand I need. Of course I may go broke buying all that sand, in which case the jawfish will stay at the store. The lighting will be a decent 4 foot LED fixture, hopefully not enough to promote a major algae bloom. But if I get hair algae, I guess I can add a court jester goby.
Even though this is not a reef tank, I am thinking of adding inverts. Part of me wants to add a chocolate chip star or knobby star. Or a few non-photosynthetic inverts. But those are a different kind of hard, so I may just add a few shrimps and skip the corals and starfish altogether. I will definitely include a group of brittlestars, snails, etc for clean up.
Filtration, a good quality hang-on-back skimmer. And a hang on the back refugium.
In any case, no photosynthetic corals. Those are for the other tank...
After reviewing Bob Fenner's Marine Aquarist Book, I've decided to turn an empty 75 gallon tank into a lagoon. The picture in the book made it look fun. I've mostly done the big block of rock setups in the past, so I'm going to try something new. If you haven't seen the book, it will be a giant capital letter "C" in the center of the tank.
---------------
- -
--- ---
My first issue is the setup. I plan to get a bunch of dry rock and glue/weld/cement it into the lagoon shape. Then seed with live rock. There will be room on the front and back for circulation, maybe 4 inches in front and back, leaving about 10 inches by 40 inches for the lagoon. I think dry rock is the way to go because it will take some work to make sure the lagoon is stable and that the inside is fully visible from different angles.
This won't be a reef tank, so I'm thinking about adding a few pieces of plastic rock structures with artificial corals. But the fake corals are a secret, so please don't tell any reef keepers I said anything about that
I'm not confident about my ability to clean those fake corals in the tank. And I'm not confident in my ability to create a realistic or stable format where most of it is live rock welded with two pieces of plastic rock. And then I need to figure out how to regularly remove the fake corals and put them in a vinegar solution without killing any fish that might live inside. I will probably put the fake coral rocks inside the lagoon (i.e. not incorporate the plastic rocks into the lagoon wall) so that they are easy to remove and replace. Of course I could just take the rock/coral decor back to Petco, but it was on sale. And I think the splash of color would be fun. The dry rock will have a small stand of blue artificial acropora and a small stand of two pieces of fake pink acropora (different fake corals from those mentioned above). Perhaps other fake corals as well. If I can figure out a way to attach the fake corals securely while also allowing them to be easily removed for cleaning.
But the more important question is livestock:
It will be a large goby tank, including a firefish (my favorite), a yellow-headed jawfish or two, bar gobies, a flasher wrasse, clown gobies, royal gramma, chalk bass, blennies and other small peaceful fish. The jawfish will require lots of sand, so I plan on getting some really big rock pieces to be the base and then burying it in 6 inches of sand. This will cut down on the amount of sand I need. Of course I may go broke buying all that sand, in which case the jawfish will stay at the store. The lighting will be a decent 4 foot LED fixture, hopefully not enough to promote a major algae bloom. But if I get hair algae, I guess I can add a court jester goby.
Even though this is not a reef tank, I am thinking of adding inverts. Part of me wants to add a chocolate chip star or knobby star. Or a few non-photosynthetic inverts. But those are a different kind of hard, so I may just add a few shrimps and skip the corals and starfish altogether. I will definitely include a group of brittlestars, snails, etc for clean up.
Filtration, a good quality hang-on-back skimmer. And a hang on the back refugium.
In any case, no photosynthetic corals. Those are for the other tank...
