dkk08 Nano Marine Mangrove Tank

[dkk08]

Finally! dkk08 is back into Marine after 30 months! Started my 36L Nano Space and IQ5 4 weeks back and now its time to reveal my humble simple setup.

36L Nano Space Mangrove Tank:
Decos/Equipments:
CaribSea Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black sand
Dum Dum Statue from Diaso
Liverocks from other reefers
Nano Mag (a great nano magnet!)
DIY Wooden airstone Skimmer with collection bottle(which is working very well, skimming fine foamy skim mate)

Flora:
12 Mangrove
Ulva sp.
Chaeto (in back compartment with 24hr LED lighting)

Fauna:
3 Hermit crabs
4 Lined Nerite Snails
Lots of amphipods or Copepods (which came from nowhere which in other words signal the "coming of age" of my tank )

Wish to have Livestock List:
Seahorse (most likely young barbouris, kuda or tiger tail)
Pipefish (most likely dragonface, jans or blue stripe)
Neon Goby
Red Spotted Goby
Red Striped Goby
Tailspot Blenny
Red Scooter Dragonet
Spotted Mandarin
A pair of tiny 1-2 cm captive bred Picasso clown (from a well known local breeder)

Of course the above is just a "wish to have list" so most probably I won't get all of them as 36L is just too small and too sensitive to over load the bioload with fishes.

Pictures will come later so stay tune!

[dkk08]

Nano Space





Filled with CaribSea Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black sand



Diy Skimmer version 1



It can actually produce real fine foamy skim mate



After some modification and attachment of a DOC aka collection bottle



Side by side with IQ5


Nano Space Scape version 1


Nano Space Scape version 2 (Latest scape as of Sunday 02/10/11)


IQ5 Scape version 1


IQ5 Scape version 2 (Latest scape as of Sunday 02/10/11)

[BFG]

Ahem, if I'm not wrong, the mangrove plantlet shouldn't be submerged. In the wild, the rise and fall of tide would expose the mangrove plant to the air for them to breathe and grow. In the tank, that cycle is not possible and the plantlet might perish underwater at all time.

[dkk08]

Ahhh then its time to raise them out of the water with chop sticks and wait for the roots to grow long and take root in the sand! Thanks Rohaizal!

[dkk08]

Added this Macro Algae aka Macro Feast (Gracilaria pacifica)



This is how the tank looks like now! Red colors added

[dkk08]

New Livestock

Zebra SH



Bluestripe Pipefish (Male) in IQ5


Dragon face Pipefish in Nano Space


Tiger tail (female) in Nano Space

[dkk08]

New Updates!



Mini Maxi in IQ5


Orange Rhizo and Supersun in IQ5




Nano Space current scape

[diazman]

Boss, what are the tank temperatures like? im also interested to set up marine side by side my fresh tank

[dkk08]

Temp Fluctuates between 26-28.9 Deg, if its a cold day/night like yesterday it stayed between 26-27.4 Deg, I'm using a Dymax fan, daily top up of 250ml freshwater

[dkk08]

Some new pics





Harlequin Shrimp Pair

[mo sheng ren]

i think of trying marine tank too, can the dolphin nano tank with HOF work well.?
wanna try harlequin shrimp and Sea horse, cause yesterday visited the marine farm beside qian hu, quite tempting to try.

[dkk08]

Well I would say should be able to work but if you want to be successful, patient is a key.

Hang on back filter can work as well, you can actually modify the hang on back filter into a refugium where it'll hold a small sand bed and some mangrove or chaeto, best is to get those see through aka transparent hang on back

Harlequin shrimp needs to be fed on starfish so be prepared for that and try not to get the blue/red linkia starfish even though it'll enhance their color as linkia tends to dirty the water alot compared to feeding them sand shifter > just my personal experience

Seahorse is another different league altogether, they need to fed daily, and most wild caught seahorse do not feed readily on frozen mysis and you'll need to have patience to train them... I'm lucky as mine took 3-4 days to train, some took 1-2 months to train their seahorses to feed on frozen mysis...

I plan to upgrade to a taller tank since I may want to breed the seahorse as they require at least a 2ft tall tank to breed (they need to do their mating dance). There's many good read up online, you just need to google seahorse to find them

Well hope you do your homework before diving into unchartered waters, I did have 3 years of marine under my belt (2005-200 and I did kept and breed Seahorses before so I more or less know what I'm getting into and truthfully, its not easy but neither is it very difficult

So good luck and do post any questions here or to the other bros on this marine section

[mo sheng ren]

Thanks bro, cool to know this. will try more research before into marine, while still learning to take good care of my freshwater tank.

[dkk08]

More updates...

Gressingeri Goby in IQ5


Male Zebra SH in Nano Space


Male Kuda SH in Nano Space


3 Ghost Pipefish in Nano Space


Full Tank shot of Nano Space


Full Tank shot of IQ5

[Jon-san]

hi, bro. pardon my ignorance. what are those long stalks tied to the chopsticks? are they mangrove stems and how do you obtain them?

[dkk08]

Hi Jon, those are mangrove, you can buy them from Pet Mart at Serangoon North, I tied them to the chopstick because they cannot be totally submerged, the leaves portion needs to be above water.

[Jon-san]

Do they grow large? Wat happens when their root network develops?

[Jon-san]

Do they grow large? Wat happens when their root network develops?

Never mind, I just read that they can be trimmed. Coz I was considering using them in a planted setup as tree trunk lookalikes. But it seems to be used mainly in saltwater setups.

[dkk08]

They can be converted into brackish and freshwater as well

[dkk08]

wow....the diy skimmer is amazing. Can share how u built it?

Hi bro, it's pretty easy and I did watch a few you tube videos before embarking on the DIY.... so you tube is where you should really look (watch a few videos) or google for DIY Cone skimmer...