Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[nineball]

I may have missed it.. but did you guys ever finish the mangrove forest? I know at one time there was some delays but I wasn't sure if you were done now.

The mangrove hydroponic forest wall unit is plumbed into the system and is feeding the sump. It is lit with three plasma lights and looks fantastic. I am extremely pleased with the result. Mr. Wilson wants to wait until the automated misting system is set up to mimic life in the wild with a fog in the morning and a thunder cloud shower around 4pm. Once that regime is instantiated Mr. Wilson has said I can take pictures. I have secretly been taking pictures of the build process so that we can all benefit from set up experience.

Peter

 

[Mangodude]

The mangrove hydroponic forest wall unit is plumbed into the system and is feeding the sump. It is lit with three plasma lights and looks fantastic. I am extremely pleased with the result. Mr. Wilson wants to wait until the automated misting system is set up to mimic life in the wild with a fog in the morning and a thunder cloud shower around 4pm. Once that regime is instantiated Mr. Wilson has said I can take pictures. I have secretly been taking pictures of the build process so that we can all benefit from set up experience.

Peter

Thanks for the update, can't wait to see the pics! :dance:

The automated misting sounds great! It gets old misting each plant with a spray-bottle of water..

Do you think a twice a day misting is too much? I know where I live there are mangroves and if we get rain once a week we are happy. We do get some fog in the morning but an "afternoon shower" is only common in the summer.

They may benefit extremely from this extra rain but I wasn't sure if it would put them in too much of a brackish environment..

 

[mr.wilson]

So Peter I may have missed it somewhere, but how does Mr. Wilson fit into the whole equation of this beautiful tank? Is he your full-time tank guru? Whatever it is, it's working.

The tank is Peter's baby, and I'm married to the tank, so I guess that makes me Peter's son-in-law. Like any proud father, he keeps a real close eye on how I treat his baby. I'm starting to worry that he's going to withhold my passport

 

[mr.wilson]

Peter, I think I found a 5th Grand Master for your azoox (non-photosynhetic) additions to the tank.
http://www.clay-boa.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=165

I guess that forum is off-bounds. I thought the clay boa link was reserved for santamonica and his magical ATS.

 

[LINCOLNZ34]

Very cool project!!

 

[mr.wilson]

wow nice setup dude! Aren't you glad you live in the GTA? We have some of the best stores and prices in North America!

That we do indeed. We just picked up a bunch of nice stuff from Tom at ORG. As much as we have the resources to go on a cherry picking mission to Indonesia and beyond, thee is alwasy a value in cherry picking the best of the best locally. There is always a new order coming in somewhere in the GTA. The hunt is more rewarding than the find anyway.

Another issue we are looking at is the risk factor of bleached orders if we buy direct. This time of year, the corals will be exposed to extreme cold and heat during transit. If a LFS gets a rough order, we can pass. They can always move bleached or damaged corals. We on the other hand aren't prepared for that inevitability.

 

[mr.wilson]

Sorry to send the thread back to this topic but I did have a question. My system I have always been a no water change kind of guy. My 90 gallon had maybe 3 water changes in about 3 years. My tank thrived. I never had nutrient issues as I had all my filtration oversized. Refugium was 40 gallons of pure chaeto with a lot of lighting. Skimmer was rated for 180 gallons and I have about 150lbs of live rock.

Ever since I moved up to a 180, I had issues with algae to start which sorted its self out. I now can't even find a tiny piece of algae in my tank even if I look for it and its been set up since July with no water changes yet. Tank is heavily stocked with fish and quite honestly over fed. My new born baby loves watching the tank when fish eat so what the hell. Although that all being said, I have noticed its been tough to keep up with magnesium. I feel like I need buckets of this stuff to keep up and my tank is not fully stocked with coral yet.

Now I totally agree a 20% water change is not going to make huge changes to your mag levels. What is the best way to get it up there and keep it there? I set my tank up so I do as little work as possible. I don't want to have to test and add mag every single day like I have been doing. Maybe I'll just bring in a water sample to see if my kits are no good. All in all though inverts are doing great. SPS, LPS and clams are all growing at nice rates and have great colours. Polyps are fully extended right from lights on to lights off.

Go to your local TSC farm supply store or feed store and buy some dolomite (chicken feed, not the Rudy Ray Moore character). Add 10-20% dolomite to your calcium reactor (that you were supposed to buy). Dolomite is calcium magnesium carbonate. Magnesium is more likely to swing due to haphazard dosing than depletion by corals. Buy some Dow Chemical mag flake or Dead Sea Works "Pet friendly ice melt". Better still, wait for me to buy a bag and come buy for your cut

Again, water changes take time and money. For some, those resources are better spent in other areas. If your nitrate and phosphate levels are zero, nuisance algae is limited to a 2 times a week glass cleaning, and your corals are healthy, then skip the water changes.

 

[arctictwist]

I love the idea of the misting set up. You realize your creating a monster here? Whats gonna end up happening, is aquariums are going to come to you for advice. Along with this entire community on the boards, and well the rest of us will never be happy with just a 120. Lol. Amazing build guys every new thing you guys come up with keeps it exciting.... im looking forward the the live food set up!

 

[ransomed4ever]

Mr. Wilson, I've never looked into mangrove growth raets, but how long do you guys think you have before the trees outgrow the system? And when that happens are you going to just replace the trees with new pods as each tree gets too large?

 

[nineball]

Mr. Wilson, I've never looked into mangrove growth raets, but how long do you guys think you have before the trees outgrow the system? And when that happens are you going to just replace the trees with new pods as each tree gets too large?

If it gets too large or out of control we take it outside and introduce it to a typical Canadian winter. No more problem. Then we bring in our frozen "li'l friend" and the rest of the mangroves get in line real fast!!!!!

Peter

ps. Mr. Wilson has a much more humane solution to the over population problem. I will let him explain.

 

[nineball]

I love the idea of the misting set up. You realize your creating a monster here? Whats gonna end up happening, is aquariums are going to come to you for advice. Along with this entire community on the boards, and well the rest of us will never be happy with just a 120. Lol. Amazing build guys every new thing you guys come up with keeps it exciting.... im looking forward the the live food set up!

Before we get focused on the new live food production facility I should note that I believe Mr. Wilson has come up with a discovery of his own that will make the Mangrove Hydroponic units very interesting to a large portion of this community. Hang in there, this will be a fascinating ride.........but what do I know.

Peter

 

[nineball]

Very cool project!!

Thank you LINCOLNZ and welcome to our community.

Peter

 

[nineball]

Thanks for the update, can't wait to see the pics! :dance:

The automated misting sounds great! It gets old misting each plant with a spray-bottle of water..

Do you think a twice a day misting is too much? I know where I live there are mangroves and if we get rain once a week we are happy. We do get some fog in the morning but an "afternoon shower" is only common in the summer.

They may benefit extremely from this extra rain but I wasn't sure if it would put them in too much of a brackish environment..

Since we have 2 mangrove units we are now able to alter the watering methods and schedule between the two to evaluate the best practice both for growth and measurable impact on the entire ecosystem. Your question is a good one which we wondered as well.......hopefully we can get an answer that everyone can benefit from.

Peter

 

[dave.m]

Is it really necessary to mist the mangroves to the point where it would affect system salinity? Isn't it just the leaves that need misting? Although there are certain types of mangroves that do grow in brackish water, many of them grow right in full strength salt water, so I don't know if it is necessary to dilute your system water just for the mangroves.

If you guys are thinking of growing pods in the mangrove tanks for food that would be way cool. Another thing you could try, depending on how big they are (I haven't seen the mangrove tanks), is to keep species of saltwater fish that naturally live among the roots of mangroves along tropical shorelines.

Dave.M

 

[ransomed4ever]

Maybe he's thinking of throwing some saltwater mollies in the mangroves. They way I hear they breed would provide an almost constant supply of food.

 

[arctictwist]

I would think any extra freshwater that makes it into the system from the misting would just serve as part of topping off, no?

 

[NVES]

Hi Peter,

Wow is all I can say! Your tank is amazing, the work that your team has done is simply amazing.

It's taken me 3 weeks to read through all this, and it's been well worth it.
This thread, and your tank have become inspiration for me to dive into the saltwater world; but I'm at step #1, so on with the reading....

Take care,
Aaron

 

[nineball]

Hi Peter,

Wow is all I can say! Your tank is amazing, the work that your team has done is simply amazing.

It's taken me 3 weeks to read through all this, and it's been well worth it.
This thread, and your tank have become inspiration for me to dive into the saltwater world; but I'm at step #1, so on with the reading....

Take care,
Aaron

Aaron, apart from the obvious benefits of building a decent marine environment, your support suggesting that our community has encouraged you to take the plunge (sorry, I couldn't resist) makes this effort especially worthwhile. Thank you for taking the time to comment and good luck with your effort. Please let us know if you take the initiative.

Peter

 

[nineball]

I would think any extra freshwater that makes it into the system from the misting would just serve as part of topping off, no?

absolutely correct.

 

[nineball]

Is it really necessary to mist the mangroves to the point where it would affect system salinity? Isn't it just the leaves that need misting? Although there are certain types of mangroves that do grow in brackish water, many of them grow right in full strength salt water, so I don't know if it is necessary to dilute your system water just for the mangroves.

If you guys are thinking of growing pods in the mangrove tanks for food that would be way cool. Another thing you could try, depending on how big they are (I haven't seen the mangrove tanks), is to keep species of saltwater fish that naturally live among the roots of mangroves along tropical shorelines.

Dave.M

The misting is intended to be part of the top off for the system so the mangroves are growing in full strength salt water. Also we will be putting fish with the mangroves but I will let Mr. Wilson elaborate.....

Peter