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1000L mangrove + macroalgae islands


Nstocks

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I have 8 x 80W lighting which is currently 2' above the water line.

 

By lower light, I take it you mean wattage, not position? I could cut 160W for a couple of weeks, or just keep the fixture high up?

 

The stems are as low as they can go without having the green tip in the water, that's the best practice isn't it? I have garden ties around the tips to stop them flopping over, which could be partially due to acclimation.

 

I'm going to replace those containers with one slightly larger container so the sand isn't visible through the rocks - that should help it blend in more! (and will hopefully be the last time they are moved which I know isn't good)

 

Thanks for the encouragement :):happy:

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I've used a large black plant pot (HDPE!) filled with sand and concealed with rock work.

 

Overall I'm quite happy with how it looks, considering there's nothing but sand and rock in the tank, until earlier today when I bought some macro algae. The 6 that I bought are tiny but it was more of an experiment to see which ones the Sailfin wouldn't eat, then I'd buy larger amounts of it.

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And don't worry how they look right now. Mine looked very similar after I didn't acclimate them from FW to SW and left them without light for a couple days. They'll bounce back.

 

It is very hard to kill a mangrove.

 

haha ive lost three so far... maybe they were not dead. I can get them pretty easy so i just chuck them.

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A few leaves are a little yellow and overall they are pretty limp and lifeless... I spray them with RO once a week - maybe they are acclimating?

 

Or just dying which would fit in with this tank anyway ;)

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CronicReefer

A few leaves are a little yellow and overall they are pretty limp and lifeless... I spray them with RO once a week - maybe they are acclimating?

 

Or just dying which would fit in with this tank anyway ;)

I have always been told that when plants have yellowing of the leaves it is due to a lack of nitrates available. Not sure if this holds true with mangroves but just a thought.

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haha ive lost three so far... maybe they were not dead. I can get them pretty easy so i just chuck them.

 

I actually left a dead one in that died immediately after shipping and it has grown back multiple leaves after over a year of nothing

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Overall they don't look as droopy, but 50% of the leaves have turned brown and fallen off. The tips look quite black too, not sure why.

 

In other news, my Brothers s*** Biorb Life 60 has been taken down to be cleaned (again) and whilst I installed a temporary 100L plastic box for the fish with more flow and phosphate reactor, my Brother no longer wants the hassle of saltwater so I'm having his fish, rock and shrimp! I said there's no way I'm putting it all back together in the Biorb, so either spend £200 on a large glass box, £600 on a nice setup like the reefer, or go with tropical which still need feeding, water changes and cleaning. He's chosen the latter.

 

Oh well, I will get two clownfish, two cleaner shrimp and a super shy firefish. None of which I'd personally buy, but at least they are going to a better home now :)

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I added the adoptions today!

 

Around 5KG extra rock of mostly small pieces really filled in the rock hill and has helped anchor the mangrove plant pot in the tank, so it's virtually invisible.

 

The Firefish has become a new favourite of mine - it's out quite a lot (whereas never seen in the Biorb) and I'm looking at adding 4 more.

 

CORAL magazine had an article a few months ago saying how well Chromis and Dartfish do in groups. Can anyone vouch for that with Dartfish? I fear that 5 may become two, or even one.

 

It's nice to have clownfish in the tank too :). Just these few additions have really livened up an otherwise empty aquarium.

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5 dart fish would be cool! mine is one of my favourite fish, but it hides a lot.

 

I would assume with friends it would be out more.

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  • 1 month later...

I've just noticed that my Sailfin tang (I've had for 4 months) has a few light coloured spots on his body - identical on both sides. (I'll take more photos tomorrow when all lights are on)

First worry is that it's ich :(.
I did a 15% water change last week and slightly altered the rocks. Other than that nothing has changed that I'm aware of. Feeding frozen Mysis and pellets specifically for herbivores. He won't touch nori.
Seems strange that the spots are identical on both sides, doesn't it?
28995552001_e29787905d_b.jpg
28995552901_0677093a19_b.jpg
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So the white markings have disappeared completely and there's just one very small dark spot on the body. It's not ich that's for sure - I was up all night reading about it - those marking are simply too large. Maybe some dirt? ;)

Now is the question; do I quarantine the fish I will be adding next weekend? (mandarin, chromis, bangaii cardinal) or just keep up with water quality etc.? The proposed additions don't seem to be prone to disease like tangs so I'm weighing up the pro's and con's of putting them in a small(er) stressful environment. (excluding the Mandarin who will go straight in for food)
29008891351_63fc6d1759_b.jpg
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  • 2 weeks later...

After months of looking into this, I finally bought a Rollermat!

 

To reduce the daily cleaning of glass, I've also installed a UV steriliser.

 

I've added a Mandarin Dragonet, which I missed from my previous tank and an Orange spotted goby - such a character!

 

Now on the hunt for a variety of macro algae, that will probably need to be special order in the UK.

 

29383017155_314cc6022a_b.jpg

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That is a beautiful tang, My Kole tang showed markings similar to that after I introduced it to the tank. He was very skinny and has fattened up well before showing those marks. I know some of them are from my Melanuras wrasse which he fights with from time to time, I think the other marks were partially caused by nutrition also. The tang wouldn't eat any green foods at first, some garlic juice has since changed that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Soooo, I have a lot of hair algae.

 

Feeding one cube per day, add 1 sheet of nori every other day and pellets once per day. I've been running a phosphate remover (NYOS) in a (small) reactor since day one. I have a couple macro algae (and mangroves) but there's not enough to outcompete the phosphate... Getting a variety of macro algae in the UK is very expensive and hard to come by.

 

I'm wondering if I should add another urchin that may or may not eat hair algae - I already have one blue tuxedo that won't touch it, and is very small.

 

CUC is about 5 snails and I'm not bothering to add more since they don't live that long and I'd need a LOT to make any difference.

 

Any other thoughts on removing GHA? I do brush it off the rocks but most of it flows into the rocks and grows again...

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This tank sounds awesome and I really like the pic of it empty but I feel it's time you posted an FTS. It can't be that bad.

 

I actually have commercially published images of algae in my tank!

 

Anyways - Sounds like you're having some persistent algae issues... Hope you can get that sorted out but I would say focus on the basic stuff vs. throwing new equipment at it. Things like maintenance routine, changing filter pads, etc...

 

Good luck - I think this tank has awesome potential!

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The tank is very, very basic!

 

Skimmer, Theiling roller mat, small reactor for GFO, recently added UV to try and keep my hands out of the tank for glass cleaning (approx. 1000lph). Manual top off water since every one I've owned has failed. Lights are on for 10 hours on timers. Feeding is twice a day. I don't stir the sand because I have a goby to do that.

 

All paramaters have been stable despite changing the water once every 6 weeks or so. No nitrates, no detectible phosphate.

 

There's a lot of thread on GHA and it comes down to large water changes (very expensive in a 1000L tank), manual removal which could work but catching each strand of algae is hard or getting 50-100 snails (very expensive). The algae is in two forms; a soft slimy type and a rougher hair texture type.

 

I've just ordered some more macro algae - caulerpa taxifolia has grown very quickly and I've removed 3 bunches already.

 

Oh, and the mangroves are doing very well! (most of them anyway). Lots of new leaves, a couple of inches of height.

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I've cut out 50% of the lights (all the white bulbs) and I'll feed once per day. I've manually removed a lot of hair algae too.

 

Depending on the results, I may also perform large water changes once a week or buy a large CUC as a preventative measure. Kinda wish I went with an algae scrubber, but I don't want more equipment!

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Christopher Marks

Reducing your feeding and photo schedule should help some, but regular water changes should make a big impact. For any manual removal you will want to physically remove the rock from the tank to do so.

 

I'd love to see a FTS as well, show off those Mangroves :D

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I think I have changed 100% of the system once in total since setting it up. I rarely do water changes, so perhaps that's why I have algae all of a sudden!

 

I'm thinking of scrubbing the reaming algae off the rocks and performing a large water change from the display tank (rather than the sump) to make it more effective, but this will expose the rocks for an hour or so it takes to re-fill.

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First FTS

 

29643412356_f2ed3a3369_h.jpg

 


29643415696_99adb75bdb_h.jpg

 

The vision is to have both islands full of macroglae (mostly green) with some Euphyllia dotted around. Although not shown in this picture as I've just disturbed it, the sand is placed in such a way that the rock islands are elevated to create a deep valley through the display.

 

12 out of the 15 mangroves are thriving and between the stems is where the recently added Mandarin Dragonet likes to come out on occasion.

 

(Only the blue tubes are turned on)

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Awesome update! Really like this tank - you should be proud of it.

 

The dimensions are very attractive and your use of empty space in the layout is excellent. The shapes of the rock are also pleasing. Not particularly unique but the "gentle" curves if you will are very natural looking and serve to focus the attention on the inhabitants (as in it makes them part of the aesthetic). That's what I think anyways.

 

I really like the modular aluminum stand. I made a hinged light mount out of the stuff and I love it. Totally obvious that there should have been a structural center brace though - the people that designed it without one were on something. I don't see the same support brace in the back though?

 

Love the sump. If it were mine I would have a big clump of chaeto growing!

 

It's going to look really awesome once those mangroves get larger. If I recall correctly the leaves need to be misted with FW pretty frequently - have you considered putting in a mister of some sort to water them a few times per day?

 

 

I think I have changed 100% of the system once in total since setting it up. I rarely do water changes, so perhaps that why I have algae all of a sudden!

 

I'm thinking of scrubbing the reaming algae off the rocks and performing a large water change from the display tank (rather than the sump) to make it more effective, but this will expose the rocks for an hour or so it takes to re-fill.

 

I think you're find to leave the rocks exposed for the time it takes to re-fill.

 

One thing I did recently that ended up working out well (considering the effort) is a "skimmer change". Basically I set my skimmer to skim super wet and directed the hose into a bucket. It actually worked out quite well - the water I removed was a light tea color. Took an hour or so to get just under 5 gallons. Now that's for a 70g system - yours is much larger but presumably your skimmer is also much larger. This is the first time I've done a water change this way but it seemed to work out well - once I remembered to turn off my ATO anyways...

 

Personally I would take the rocks out and scrub them down this time, but maybe for future water changes you could incorporate this method as presumably it removes more waste than just siphoning water out of the tank.

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I'm more worried about the copepod population with Mandarin :(

 

The skimmer has always been set to wet skim (Deltec SC1456) and I have to clean the inside neck every other day otherwise it won't skim at all. My water changes have always been from the sump, but most of the much is in the display so this should be a place to remove a lot of the volume instead. Interesting idea though, never heard of it before.

 

You'll probably see from the FTS that there isn't an insane amount of algae and I've picked most of it off. I'm not going to taking any rock work out - it was a major PITA to get it as it currently is!

 

I think the copepods will be fine for the most part - they spend their time in little holes and crevices anyways which won't completely drain. That's my experience anyways.. I've taken rocks out and even scrubbed them and live pods still fall off in the rinse bucket...

 

Initially I was under the impression that your algae problems were worse than they actually are. I think a slight modification to your maintenance routine will yield good results.

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Awesome update! Really like this tank - you should be proud of it.

 

The dimensions are very attractive and your use of empty space in the layout is excellent. The shapes of the rock are also pleasing. Not particularly unique but the "gentle" curves if you will are very natural looking and serve to focus the attention on the inhabitants (as in it makes them part of the aesthetic). That's what I think anyways.

 

I really like the modular aluminum stand. I made a hinged light mount out of the stuff and I love it. Totally obvious that there should have been a structural center brace though - the people that designed it without one were on something. I don't see the same support brace in the back though?

 

Love the sump. If it were mine I would have a big clump of chaeto growing!

 

It's going to look really awesome once those mangroves get larger. If I recall correctly the leaves need to be misted with FW pretty frequently - have you considered putting in a mister of some sort to water them a few times per day?

 

 

 

I think you're find to leave the rocks exposed for the time it takes to re-fill.

 

One thing I did recently that ended up working out well (considering the effort) is a "skimmer change". Basically I set my skimmer to skim super wet and directed the hose into a bucket. It actually worked out quite well - the water I removed was a light tea color. Took an hour or so to get just under 5 gallons. Now that's for a 70g system - yours is much larger but presumably your skimmer is also much larger. This is the first time I've done a water change this way but it seemed to work out well - once I remembered to turn off my ATO anyways...

 

Personally I would take the rocks out and scrub them down this time, but maybe for future water changes you could incorporate this method as presumably it removes more waste than just siphoning water out of the tank.

 

Originally the rocks were placed so there was a large mountain on the left attached to a line of rocks centred in the tank, but that restricted flow and was boring compared to having two islands. The sand height variation really steps up this aquascape, but again, I have just disturbed it.

 

There is also a central upright on the back, just with foamex between it so hard to see. I had thought about cheato in the sump, but the light will cause algae to grow everywhere and honestly, with a 640W T5 fixture and no desire for corals, I'm putting a lot of different macro algae in the display. Mangroves are misted every other day when I clean the glass.

 

Obviously it has a long way to go (which I like). The next fish additions will be a group of Anthias, but beyond that I'm not sure what else. Certainly no more tangs as the Sailfin is the show fish and I generally prefer smaller species.

 

I think sourcing macro algae will really step up this tank from being a pile of rocks to a full ecosystem. It's around £20 for a single piece of macro algae over here since eBay is very, very limited.

 

But first, a large water change!

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