You Need Another Tank Like a Hole in Your Head

[College_Reefer]

That's what my girlfriend said right before I ordered another tank to put in our house!

I have always wanted to do a mangrove and macroalgae tank, but it was always overshadowed by my love for reef tanks. Well earlier in the year I got my dream reef tank and it's been coasting well so I figured it was time for another project. I came across Reef Casa by chance one day and took a look at what they had and loved their tank footprints. I decided I wanted to go with a small lagoon tank and saw that they had a 6-gallon pico so I pulled the trigger! While waiting for it to arrive, I ordered a whole bunch of stuff I needed to set it up and got the space ready. It arrived yesterday so I got it all set up!

I have always loved tanks with the rock work exposed so I wanted to go that route with this one. My vision is to have the mangrove grow behind the rock with some air plants and stuff sitting on top of the rock that sticks out of the water. I'll add macroalgae soon and am fortunate to live very close to a distributer so I will be able to go and hand pick what I add to it (both mangroves and macro algae). I'm thinking slower growing calcareous species as it's a small tank so I don't need something exploding and taking over. As for livestock, I'm thinking a pistol shrimp and goby plus maybe a yellow clown goby because in a tank this size it won't get lost!

Tank: Reef Casa Flat 6 w/ Bamboo storage option
Return: Sicce Micra Plus with dual RFG
Light: AI Blade Grow 12"
Mangrove Light: Extra Tall Reptile Heat Lamp
Grow Bulb: Sensi Grow Bulb
ATO: USeek ATO
Heater: Hygger 50W titanium heater with controller
Controller: Apex Jr. (old version)

 

[cdemoss01]

That's what my girlfriend said right before I ordered another tank to put in our house!

I have always wanted to do a mangrove and macroalgae tank, but it was always overshadowed by my love for reef tanks. Well earlier in the year I got my dream reef tank and it's been coasting well so I figured it was time for another project. I came across Reef Casa by chance one day and took a look at what they had and loved their tank footprints. I decided I wanted to go with a small lagoon tank and saw that they had a 6-gallon pico so I pulled the trigger! While waiting for it to arrive, I ordered a whole bunch of stuff I needed to set it up and got the space ready. It arrived yesterday so I got it all set up!

I have always loved tanks with the rock work exposed so I wanted to go that route with this one. My vision is to have the mangrove grow behind the rock with some air plants and stuff sitting on top of the rock that sticks out of the water. I'll add macroalgae soon and am fortunate to live very close to a distributer so I will be able to go and hand pick what I add to it (both mangroves and macro algae). I'm thinking slower growing calcareous species as it's a small tank so I don't need something exploding and taking over. As for livestock, I'm thinking a pistol shrimp and goby plus maybe a yellow clown goby because in a tank this size it won't get lost!

Tank: Reef Casa Flat 6 w/ Bamboo storage option
Return: Sicce Micra Plus with dual RFG
Light: AI Blade Grow 12"
Mangrove Light: Extra Tall Reptile Heat Lamp
Grow Bulb: Sensi Grow Bulb
ATO: USeek ATO
Heater: Hygger 50W titanium heater with controller
Controller: Apex Jr. (old version)

Clearing this off of unanswered good luck man!

 

[kevgib67]

Awesome! Make sure you put some Neosporin over that hole in your head so it doesn’t get infected.

 

[College_Reefer]

Awesome! Make sure you put some Neosporin over that hole in your head so it doesn’t get infected.

Hah! I'll be sure to do that. I ended up getting permission to cut holes into the back of the home bar we have to hide wiring and such. I almost fell over when she suggested it, but it looks a lot cleaner. I'll have to post a pic of that tonight. Other thing I've been considering is a skunk clownfish pair with nem for the tank plus some macro algae as well. I can't decide if it's too small a tank for it but its 15"x16" display with the height being the limiting factor. I want to say that it's a wide enough footprint especially for clownfish that are actively hosted by a nem but I don't want to be totally unfair to them. Any thought there?

 

[College_Reefer]

I got my mangrove today for the tank. It turned out to be absolutely perfect for the tank. I ordered it from floridareeflabs.com and they were phenomenal to work with! I was able to get the roots to one side and feed the main plant through the rock work. The main root is semi buried under the sand and wraps around the one side. My hope is they keep spreading and create a cool maze of roots throughout the display for the fish to swim through.