Mangrove / Macro / Softie lagoon - 20 long

[dansyr]

I'm not much of a photographer, my wife is the one, so I don't know the details. This was me borrowing her camera. Camera is a Sony alpha 3000 mirrorless, some of the lens numbers are 18-200 (mm?). Beyond that i'm lost.

I run my tanks super white so no filters or auxiliary lights or post editing. I should really learn how to do post editing to clean up shadows and depth.

 

[dansyr]

this is the goby photo I wanted to submit since it really gets his vibe better, but it's just not quite as good of a photo.

 

[sakeating]

Thanks for sharing. How is your mangrove doing? I’ve been thinking about starting a small mangrove tank.

 

[dansyr]

You should do it! Mangroves are awesome. I love them, and it's always fun when a random guest is like... wait a minute is that a plant in there??

It's doing... OK. Not the fastest growth, maybe one set of leaves every 6-9 months? Things I attribute the slow growth to, in decreasing priority.

1) It's basically an epiphyte right now - I have it semi-anchored to a rock, and then wedged behind my return locline. Roots would definitely prefer to be in a substrate / muddy, not growing as a hydroponic lithophyte I think.
2) low nutrients - max I've ever measured is NO3 = 10, PO4 = 0.06. There's just so much macro and softies they suck up the water column nutrients (see #1)
3) lighting is too close - so it gets plenty of light intensity, but I think if it got more of a 'spread' of light on it including the stem it might be happier.

I have plans to fix #3 in a month or two once my indoor plants get to go back outside, and hope #1 will fix itself in time once roots make it all the way down the rock into the sand.

Other random commentary - avoid root disturbance, definitely don't break roots to let salt in but even moving them seems to slow root growth for a bit.

 

[dansyr]

Softie tank is trucking along - I picked up a sad rescue spotted mandarin about a month ago and it's bounce back well in the pod jungle that this tank is.

Bit of a photo dump since my wife's out of town so I had fun playing around with her good camera.

 

[dansyr]

Few random shots from the other tank, the old-school purple tip acro is really starting to color up nicely facing the green slimer.

 

[drexel]

Looking good! I'm glad the little one pulled through.

 

[bakbay]

Very nice - totally loving the natural look & keep up the great work! I had no idea that macro/planted tanks can be this beautiful.

Actually, I’ve just started a 25gal fishless tank out of boredom 2 weeks ago and I’m glad I found this thread. So far, mine is just a DSB with macros (Dragon’s Breadth & Toxic Broccoli). Instead of a LTA, I have a rescued CSB nem - he is HODL steady though. I have plenty of baby mangroves and will be planting them (likely just 2) this week. No doubt that I will be shopping for more macros and gorgonians this weekend!

Keep the updates coming.

 

[dansyr]

Very nice - totally loving the natural look & keep up the great work! I had no idea that macro/planted tanks can be this beautiful.

Actually, I’ve just started a 25gal fishless tank out of boredom 2 weeks ago and I’m glad I found this thread. So far, mine is just a DSB with macros (Dragon’s Breadth & Toxic Broccoli). Instead of a LTA, I have a rescued CSB nem - he is HODL steady though. I have plenty of baby mangroves and will be planting them (likely just 2) this week. No doubt that I will be shopping for more macros and gorgonians this weekend!

Keep the updates coming.

Thanks! I saw the little new tank over on R2R, its looking good! you definitely should go down the macro jungle/natural look, it's really fun (and a nice low maintenance break). That's good to hear about the CSB, bet it will really pop in there once it's recovered.

Definitely get a good bushy, fast growing gorgonian! I think that was when the look of this tank really took off. I actually need to trim and give away the left branch, it's flopping over on the S elegans too much and bugging the goby.

If you're ever up this way stop by! I'm just down the street from Tangwich.

 

[bakbay]

Thanks! I saw the little new tank over on R2R, its looking good! you definitely should go down the macro jungle/natural look, it's really fun (and a nice low maintenance break). That's good to hear about the CSB, bet it will really pop in there once it's recovered.

Definitely get a good bushy, fast growing gorgonian! I think that was when the look of this tank really took off. I actually need to trim and give away the left branch, it's flopping over on the S elegans too much and bugging the goby.

If you're ever up this way stop by! I'm just down the street from Tangwich.

Totally — will use your tank as an aspiration! However, I’m easily bored so by the time it reaches a level of maturity, I’ll shut it down! lol

Appreciate the offer — will definitely check out your tank next time I’m up there.

 

[dansyr]

That's the great thing about macros, they do the successional thing so it keeps things constantly fresh! this thing's been only going for ~18 mo I think but it is constantly changing between who's winning currently - gracilaria, dictyota, codium, halimeda all ebb and flow. Past couple months it was mostly codium, but now the red ogo seems to be on the upswing again so I'm looking forward to the spiky pom pom look again.

An automatic rescape by ecology every couple months I'm not brave enough to let ecology have its way in a 20g mixed reef (my other tank) but this one is pretty much sit back and watch the dynamics of softies and macros.

 

[Tangwich]

That's the great thing about macros, they do the successional thing so it keeps things constantly fresh! this thing's been only going for ~18 mo I think but it is constantly changing between who's winning currently - gracilaria, dictyota, codium, halimeda all ebb and flow. Past couple months it was mostly codium, but now the red ogo seems to be on the upswing again so I'm looking forward to the spiky pom pom look again.

An automatic rescape by ecology every couple months I'm not brave enough to let ecology have its way in a 20g mixed reef (my other tank) but this one is pretty much sit back and watch the dynamics of softies and macros.

wow...very nice growth bro..and i agree with you about never a dull moment with these macro tanks. I spent an hour last night pulling chunks of dictyota that was engulfing some sps frags as well as a few sponges. I also fragged my atomic broccoli colony and your frag is growing nicely whenever you're ready for it.

 

[Discotu]

Love the picture on the 1st page with a little natural sunlight hitting the tank. Btw what happened to the shrimp fry?

 

[bakbay]

wow...very nice growth bro..and i agree with you about never a dull moment with these macro tanks. I spent an hour last night pulling chunks of dictyota that was engulfing some sps frags as well as a few sponges. I also fragged my atomic broccoli colony and your frag is growing nicely whenever you're ready for it.

Well, my broccoli already doubled so guess I’ll be eating them this weekend! lol

I do need more macros though — all these names confused the heck out of me. I’m a macro idiot.

 

[Tangwich]

Well, my broccoli already doubled so guess I’ll be eating them this weekend! lol

I do need more macros though — all these names confused the heck out of me. I’m a macro idiot.

lol...well i have a lot of different kinds but i dont think you want the kind i have. lol. they are all invasive with the exception of the atomic and the dragons.

 

[bakbay]

lol...well i have a lot of different kinds but i dont think you want the kind i have. lol. they are all invasive with the exception of the atomic and the dragons.

Wait…what? You got STD and now you’re telling me?

ok - will pass

 

[Tangwich]

Wait…what? You got STD and now you’re telling me?

ok - will pass

Lol no not std...but for example I have a couple caluerpa species which grow super fast and then they go asexual and cloud up the tank. Also the dictyota grows super fast. But don't worry, I didn't give you any of those.

 

[dansyr]

Love the picture on the 1st page with a little natural sunlight hitting the tank. Btw what happened to the shrimp fry?

Thanks! I love the sunlight on it too, there's some days of the year when the angle is perfect and it hits the S elegans in the morning and that's my favorite lighting.

Longest I got them to was a little over 30 days, I think it was around Z6 or something stage-wise. They had developed the long paddle pleiopods for a molt or two but it was relatively recent. I want to try another batch soon, now that I'm growing copepods i think i might have better feed for them. But unfortunately my oldest shrimp that had the huge clutches died seemingly of old age about 2 months ago, I need to find a mate for the remaining one. Now if I could get my sexies to spawn, but somehow I always end up with 100% females

 

[dansyr]

Wait…what? You got STD and now you’re telling me?

ok - will pass

Some suggestions for less-crazy growing macros - the 'other' gracilaria (not the pointy red ogo type though I like that too), it grows pretty fast but stays pretty clump-y so is easy to remove by handfuls and not as much of a tangle hazard as red ogo or chaeto balls.

the Halymenia floridana (Tangwich and I have a bunch, haven't seen it a ton of other places but I think it gets sold as "Red Plastic" macroalgae or "Rose petal").

Botryocladia are great, slower than caulerpa but they do have holdfasts.

 

[bakbay]

Macros are dual-purpose for me. Currently, I’m loving those Dragon Breadths (don’t know the scientific name) - the whole colony doubled every week/two, no joke. I feed this stuff to my angels/tangs, weaning off nori sheets. So yes, I do want fast growing macros that can be used to feed the fish!

For my macro tank, I want something colorful but doesn’t grow that fast. Right now, it has some (semi-highend) zoas, dragon’s breadth, atomic broccoli, and a toadstool. Here is the latest with 2 recently-planted mangroves.