My Nano Mangrove Lagoon

[Eastone]

I want to share my reef, I post mostly on nano-reef, but I'll be able to respond to any questions.

Excuse the poor colours, until this weekend it was running on a DIY biopellet reactor and skimmer, I was on a poor-student shoestring budget! The biopellet reactor was actually part coke bottle. Most of the corals were grown from frags originally in my pico-reef, seen on reef builders here

I'm working on my SPS coloration now that I have a reliable reactor and skimmer, I think I'll have better control of the nutrients.

 

[MARINECRITTERS]

wow, super natural looking.

 

[Bcrowe2012]

How tall will the mangroves get? Will the roots grow into the sps at all?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I like it different and cool. More pics of the tank and filter system.

 

[reefmutt]

Oh yeah! More pics please!
This is waaaay cool!

 

[marthin]

Stunning

 

[sahin]

I like it. Its unique and I like the sloping sand idea. Do you need to push the sand back regularly or does it stay put now that bacteria and slime has coated the sand grains?

 

[fearyaks]

That's pretty cool! Do you have any other images you can share?

 

[Eastone]

Oh man! thanks for the replies. I didn't expect it'd catch on so well

How tall will the mangroves get? Will the roots grow into the sps at all?

They'd get to full tree size if I left them be and had a few decades or so aha. If you notice on the lower branch of the top most mangrove, I've bonsai-wired it and am in the process of shaping the canopy. The taller side actually has two more thin branches growing so I've needed to order more bonsai wire to shape it properly. The roots mostly grow close to the surface under the sand, but don't overgrow corals and I don't have fast enough growth to worry about the stilt roots much. It took about 6 months from the root structure of one to grow from a fist to a 6" cube or so.

wow, super natural looking.

Thanks, I try my hardest to make it look authentic. I'm torn between getting a juvenile majestic angelfish to grow out (with the mangroves, I end up upgrading every 6 months) or to try fill it with tiny fish and look more lagoonal

I like it different and cool. More pics of the tank and filter system.

I'll be sure to get some. My filter system looks like garbage, my sump is an ikea plastic clothes storage tote :|

Oh yeah! More pics please!
This is waaaay cool!

I shall do! I had a little rescape to emphasise the central sand plateau so when it clears I'll get some photos.

Stunning

I like it. Its unique and I like the sloping sand idea. Do you need to push the sand back regularly or does it stay put now that bacteria and slime has coated the sand grains?

The rock all sits half submerged in the slope, and this alone keeps it up. I get a bit of movement because I didn't build a retaining structure but I fix that with a cup every few weeks. Where do you get your corals from BTW, I go to Great Portland Street but you've got some amazingly colorful pieces that I'd not seen there.

That's pretty cool! Do you have any other images you can share?

I have loads, the best bet is here where I documented the tank since it started as a DVD storage box from Muji (I had sps in less than 4 gallons of water for some time. Many pieces that you see here started there. I also have an instagram that my girlfriend updates but I've not got the link on me. I'll post a few more images later tonight

 

[Eastone]

I promised pictures:

 

[drawman]

Tank looks great!

 

[cFloor]

Very cool reef you have! I'd love to know a little more about how you've gotten here with it: maintenance, husbandry, etc.

 

[900801]

what do you do when they grow too big for your tank?

 

[Eastone]

Very cool reef you have! I'd love to know a little more about how you've gotten here with it: maintenance, husbandry, etc.

Sure

When it started, the tank was as I'd mentioned a single gallon DVD box that I'd plumbed to a plastic sump. Skimmer was a modified BM Nac5e that would clog frequently unless I purged the venturi and the system was managed by a refurbished aquatronica with a dosing pump. At that time I just dosed a two part from Red Sea along with some colour elements, and my bacteria was maintained by a DIY biopellet reactor. At this time I used to have to dilute most of my dosing regimes to incorporate for the sub 5 gallon system volume.

Since, I've graduated onto a BM G5 with a BM reactor to run all-in-one biopellets, I use the Aquaforest pre-mixed Component 1-3+ balling system which handles my calcium and carbonate and I monitor frequently and graph them as below http://i.imgur.com/9tBs4mg.png
The system consumes/produces 0.7 grams of CaCO3 a day now.

I also use the aquaforest food system and use their bacteria and carbon (I forget the names, but it's similar to Zeovit's system but far cheaper, involves aminos, vitamins and a copper based food supplement to ensure light color corals.) On top of that I feed the tank with Polyplab Reef Roids and pure creatine monohydrate as well as potassium nitrate when necessary, and New Life Spectrum when there are fish in the system.

I don't really test my nutrients, usually they're extremely low due to the mangroves plus the skimmer and biopellets but recently I've noticed some red slime algae which has been a headache for some time now. I feel I need to use a regime of Pohl's Coral Snow to eradicate it and I'm placing an order as we speak!

 

[reefmutt]

Nice write up.. Thanks.
I'm curious, why do think you need the biopellets?

 

[Eastone]

what do you do when they grow too big for your tank?

I upgrade! I do so every 6 months or so, It's pretty easy when the tanks are still in the nano range

Nice write up.. Thanks.
I'm curious, why do think you need the biopellets?

I really like the idea of a bacterial filtration system and I'm too erratic to dose liquid carbon as the primary substrate. Especially with the AIO biopellets, I find it very easy to control nutrients and a heavily stocked/fed tank.

My goal with keeping a reef is to create a system where the tank is able to process as close to 100% of the nutrient I put in, then rely on water changes to deal with the residual buildup. That, together with the mangroves which are absolutely amazing at absorbing organics, mean I have exceptionally clear and clean water, so I can dose everything that's needed and know that the tank can process (such as no3, po4 and micronutrients)

The only issues I have with this system is that when I have no fish (I removed all of mine when one of my fish passed from a parasite, I'm not sure what so I wanted the tank to fallow) I have volatile, imbalanced nutrient levels and it gives rise to cyanobacteria. This is only temporary till I get new fish, previoussly in the 30cm cube, I was keeping upward of 15 fish and maintaining low-to zero nutrient while feeding heavily and having good coral colours.

 

[reefmutt]

Oh! Ok. Makes sense.. Didn't realize the fish load you like to keep..
Couldn't understand why you were using them in a system which was already nutrient poor but once you put your fish back, that won't be the case.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was the pellets giving you cyano at the moment, though.

 

[Eastone]

Oh! Ok. Makes sense.. Didn't realize the fish load you like to keep..
Couldn't understand why you were using them in a system which was already nutrient poor but once you put your fish back, that won't be the case.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was the pellets giving you cyano at the moment, though.

I'm fairly certain it is, my DIY reactor also malfunctioned, meaning the pellets were under an extremely high flow for a few weeks as the cyano started, and I reflexively stopped feeding instead of feeding more. I need to get back into the habit of feeding the corals more to compensate.

I really enjoy a heavy fish load, but I'm tempted with this tank to just get a single larger-juvenile angel like a regal or majestic and feed it heavily, allowing me to let it grow while I go through my upgrade cycles every 6 months. I'm still on the fence between that or a heavy load of gobies and more cryptic fish and going for the natural bustling reef look

 

[sahin]

Where do you get your corals from BTW, I go to Great Portland Street but you've got some amazingly colorful pieces that I'd not seen there.

I collected most of my SPS driving up and down the country visiting other reefkeepers. Some pieces came from various ebay outlets that were present at one time or other.

ADC is nice for starter SPS and sometimes have very nice stuff...but lately the stock hasnt been all that nice; lots of weedy stuff like monti digitata/hysterix and some half decent acros. But overall a decent place.

 

[Eastone]

I collected most of my SPS driving up and down the country visiting other reefkeepers. Some pieces came from various ebay outlets that were present at one time or other.

ADC is nice for starter SPS and sometimes have very nice stuff...but lately the stock hasnt been all that nice; lots of weedy stuff like monti digitata/hysterix and some half decent acros. But overall a decent place.

I find with ADC in order to get any of the decent corals, you have to arrive on shipping day. They get some awesome corals from Tonga or have been recently anyway, and these make for some good frags that they sell rather cheap.

In other news, I think my cyano issue arises from phosphate, I've seen a 20% drop in growth and I assume this is down to me cutting down dosing aminos as often with my new job, meaning nitrogen limitation. I've dosed the tank with about 3ml (5ppm) of KNO3 so hopefully that should help.