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WhiteReef 
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 Topic: 10 Gallon Mangal
Posted: March 21 2011 at 1:42pm |
Well, I have all the items finally to start setting up my tank. All of the mangroves arrived and are currently soaking in fresh water in a vase in my kitchen (they were started/grown in fresh water). I have the root dip ( http://www.microbeliftshop.com/Microbial-Root-Dip/Microbial-Root-Dip-p-219.html). Adam was gracious to supply me with a good amount of sand and rock. Next steps will be to get the tank setup in my office.
Aqua-scape -> I am going to make a tower of sand in the back two corner of the tank and grow 2-5 mangroves on each side depending on the space. Then I will be placing some on each side that will be angled toward the opposite wall to give the roots a chance to attach to the rock that holds up the sand in the corners and reach down to the sand in the bottom of the tank. There will be a few that I will be planting in the bottom sand near the front to hide the small pumps. There should be about 4" of sand on the bottom.
I will be starting the tank out with fresh water and then gradually add in the salt over the next month. When I add in the water I will be calculating how much salt I need to add, and I guess that I will be adding in around 3 cups of salt, so I will be adding about a 1/4 cup of salt on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until it gets to full strength saltwater ~.023-.025. This will be done when I add in the top off water.
Setup with the mangroves, I will be using the root dip per directions on half of the mangroves to see if it helps. The other half will not be placed in the dip. It will be interesting to see if the roots grow any faster and if the ones in the root dip have less transplant shock.
Lighting will just be the ambient light from the window and the NO fluorescents in my office. Depending on conditions I may add in a light later on after things are setup and looking good.
Heater...no heater, just using the temp of the office to heat/cool the tank.
Circulation will be two small pumps placed near the front on each side pointing up and to the back of the tank.
Bacteria load will be added by adding in about 1-2 cups of LS from my tank and different macro algaes. Also I have a few rubble rocks that I will be migrating to the new tank.
Live stock plans at the moment once it is acclimated and stable will be several damsel fish with macro algae and hardy soft corals, and some sponges if I can remove some from my tank or get some from club members. Also a good clean up crew with several snails, a few hermits, maybe a crab or shrimp, and a serpent star.
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: March 21 2011 at 1:46pm |
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Sounds interesting. I'll be following along.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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WhiteReef
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Posted: March 22 2011 at 12:50pm |
Well, I have finished dry aqua-scaping and wanted to share a few photos so far. Where the mangroves have been since Saturday afternoon. Chill'n in the kitchen.
front shot. I used a good sized piece or Utah rock and managed to break it into workable pieces.
Here is the back side showing all the sand behind the rock walls. I used a stick to push the sand around to fill in as many gaps as I could. Also I thought Adam gave me to much sand, but it looks like it was just about right.
Tomorrow morning I will be moving the dry setup to my office including the mangroves and the root dip. Hopefully the move goes well and it transports okay to the office. When I get there I will be putting in water, dipping half the mangroves, and getting it all in place.
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: March 22 2011 at 1:09pm |
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Awesome!
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Come to a meeting, they’re fun!
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WhiteReef
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Posted: March 22 2011 at 7:45pm |
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Well even the best plans have set backs. As I was moving the tank to my jeep, to transport it in the morning, I sat it down on a raised corner accidentally and cracked the bottom of my tank. Dang! At least it is just a few cracks and not a full blow out. Off to Wal Mart tonight, unless someone is up late and wants to sell me a 10 gallon tank.
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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WhiteReef
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Posted: March 24 2011 at 10:10am |
Well, I chose to go to petsmart and get my replacement tank. After that it was attempting to redo the same aquascape and prep for moving. This morning all went well with the move and the tank is now setup and in place. It took exactly the 6 gallons as I thought, so I will be adding in 3 cups of salt over the next ~4 weeks. Hopefully they all transition well. Also I was amazed that 21 mangroves would fix in that tank and look as good as they do.
Half the mangroves that were not dipped placed in the tank while the others are still waiting out the 15 minute dip time.
All setup
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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jwoo
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Posted: March 24 2011 at 10:24am |
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That is really awesome!
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None at the moment
Soon: 72 Gallon Bowfront
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JB
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Posted: March 24 2011 at 2:32pm |
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Looking real good there Richard
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If not for construction, where would we be?
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Deluxe247
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Posted: March 26 2011 at 12:01pm |
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That's pretty cool. I'm curious what your nutrient source is.
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90G Mixed Reef
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: March 26 2011 at 1:10pm |
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That looks really good!
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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WhiteReef
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Posted: March 26 2011 at 8:43pm |
Nutrient load: "Bacteria load will be added by adding in about 1-2 cups of LS from my tank and different macro algaes. Also I have a few rubble rocks that I will be migrating to the new tank.
Live stock plans at the moment once it is acclimated and stable will be several damsel fish with macro algae and hardy soft corals, and some sponges if I can remove some from my tank or get some from club members. Also a good clean up crew with several snails, a few hermits, maybe a crab or shrimp, and a serpent star."
Right now I have added in a Koralia Nano Circulation Pump/Powerhead 425gph. Also I noticed that when I left on Friday the tank was really cold, so I will be bringing in a heater to help keep the tank warm when the office gets a little chilled. Also Monday I start adding salt slowly over the next ~4 weeks.
Question: I have a few pods that are not quite green and are more of a brown color. The leaves on them look okay, but is this normal or something to be concerned about? If this is not normal what can be done to help them.
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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WhiteReef
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Posted: April 01 2011 at 4:15pm |
No idea about the brown pods? Also I have what looks like a white bacterial growth on the pods. Should I be concerned?
Also after 2 weeks all of the leaves are still on the plants and the water is 1/4 of the way converting to salt water. Also I added 16 drops of Kent Marine iron and manganese to the water each day, next week I will drop that to 8 drops and then 4-5 drops after that.
What fish should I add? I was thinking about cardinal fish as there are a few kinds that are found in mangals. Since I want to keep it close to a biotype setup I would be curious as to what others might think. Banggi Cardinal
What coral should I add? I was thinking about some soft corals, but I am not certain. The tank gets about 5 hours of direct sunlight and about the same of shaded light. Again I would want to keep it along the lines of things that live in mangals and are hardy. I am thinking something along the lines of leather corals. Any thoughts?
Edited by WhiteReef - April 01 2011 at 4:27pm
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: April 01 2011 at 6:35pm |
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I think leathers would be ok, clove/wood polyps would so fine too. I think a catalina goby or a flaming prawn goby would be awesome for that tank. For the cardinals, out of the ones listed I like the orange lined the best, but that's just me. I noticed some white fuzz when I had mangroves in my frogfish tank it eventually just went away when I upped the waterflow.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 01 2011 at 11:03pm |
I'm envious. Add any coral you want. Mangals are all over the tropical world so all kinds of coral grow in them, including SPS like Pocillipora in Hawaii.
Brown propagules are normal, as are brown leaves. What I found was that the propagule goes
into a dormancy stage for up to 3 months. During this time, when it feels like it has been
stationary/solidly anchored in the substrate long enough, it first
sends out roots to help stabilize it against waves and wind before it
puts out a new leaf shoot.
The shoots are protected by a hard sheath which breaks open and falls
off as the nice green leaves start to expand and fill out. I used to
just let those sheaths be part of the Mangal environment (the Refugium  ) as they waterlogged and slipped to the Mangal floor to become a tiny source of recycled nutrients.
Speaking of nutrients, I simply added dirt/mud (maybe half a cup or so) because dirt, along with
fish waste, has all the minerals and nutrients needed for Mangrove
growth. If you think about it, all kinds of land run-off provides
nutrients to the Mangroves which grow at the margin between land and
sea.
Here is my favorite Mangal in Kona on the Big Island, just south of Honokohau Harbor, the place where they found all those hundreds of dead Tangs in the dumpster last year. Baby Convict Tangs were swimming in this "pond". I wish I could have brought some home.  
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WhiteReef
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Posted: April 01 2011 at 11:38pm |
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I must say I like the catalina goby, sexy fish. The other goby is way to pricey, but stunning. Thanks for the input on the brown propulates and the white fuzz. Another two weeks and I will be starting to test for salinity to make sure I don't over shoot the mark. I hope that by the 15th I will have the salinity high enough to add in some sand, rock, and macro algae from my home tank.
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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WhiteReef
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Posted: April 11 2011 at 11:48am |
Well, I am just over the half way mark with the salinity. It just is not reading yet on my hydrometer yet, so it is below 1.017. Hopefully it will be high enough by Friday to add in some macro, LS, and LR rubble. If not, oh well later on then. I must say that I love the shimmer the sunlight gives the tank as it makes it just sparkle, but I am still getting impatient as everyone in the office still wants to see something alive in the tank. Maybe my mini beluga whales will come in or at least mini dolphins  .
Still on the fence with fish, so if anyone has a few other suggestions I am all ears! |
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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bfessler
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Posted: April 11 2011 at 12:45pm |
I like it. I've been thinking of putting up a tank at work that wouldn't need a lot of work. A mangrove tank could be cool. 
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Burt
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dc
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Posted: April 11 2011 at 9:34pm |
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i have 2 orbic cardinals (sphaeramia orbicularis) the silver/black ones. if you would like one i would be more than happy to give you one. they are both males and fight sometimes. from my understanding they are mangrove fish. let me know
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WhiteReef
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Posted: May 04 2011 at 2:10pm |
Thanks for the offer on the fish, I will PM you about it.
The tank is now completely converted over to SW. All of the mangroves have their leaves still, except for the one in the direct flow of the powerhead (also it looks like it has a 50/50 chance). The only thing that I am needing to start doing is spraying them with fresh water. They have been getting a small build up of salt on them, and the spraying should help correct that.
Monday I added in about 1 1/2 cups of sand from my refuguim (loaded with crap), a small piece of LR, a small LBTR from my backyard (living in Magna I find some pieces on occasion), macro algae from my refugium, and some phyto. The tank looked like a mess and I was ashamed to even look at it much since the water was so polluted. Today the water is clear and looking good.
Also the roots on the mangroves have been developing nicely and a few of them with partially exposed roots are showing growth (in the photo the red roots are new growth). Also at this point I still do not know if the root dip helped or not.
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: May 04 2011 at 3:26pm |
 WhiteReef wrote:
I must say that I love the shimmer the sunlight gives the tank as it makes it just sparkle, |
For me it's impossible to describe that awesome look. It has to be seen to be appreciated.
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Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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