Best setup for thriving mangrove and macros?

[d2mini]

I'm about to redo my fuge which is currently shallow and has 50 mangrove plants.
I want to be able to have lots of different macros for nutrient reduction and pod production.

The tank will be about 45 gallons (approx 26 x 22 x 22 high). I will cull down the mangroves to just a few. Would like to eventually have a large tree growing out of it like Julian Sprung's refugium. Pretty sure I want a substrate of some sort to be able to plant the mangroves like i do now. Was thinking dsb. My refugium will be separate from the sump so flow will be low and it can be separated completely in case i need to do maintenance, replace the sand bed in the future, etc. But I'm wondering what kind of substrate would be best. Was thinking of incorporating some kind of mud maybe, like Fiji Mud. Of course the reviews on this are always mixed. I've used miracle mud in the past in a standard 3 section sump and always had a healthy tank. But in this case i'm more interested in the health of the refugium and providing the best substrate for the mangroves. Any benefit to the display tank is a bonus.

And is a home depot shop light with daylight cf bulb still the best way to go or should I be looking at something else?

BTW, this is all out in my garage with my large rubbermaid sump... not under a stand. ;)

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[tektite]

Mud covered by fine sand (that DSB sand Lee has would work really good) covered by a thin layer of coarser sand to hold everything in place would work well. Normally in the wild the mud mangroves grow in has tremendous amounts of bacteria and is anoxic, not sure how long it'd take the refugium mud to reach those conditions for the mangroves. If you go to the Galveston area to where the black mangroves are you can see what the mud/silt is like there.

If the main purpose of the sump is pod production, low flow works great. If the main purpose is nutrient export/macroalgae growth, most macros prefer medium flow at least. A lot of people think low flow is good for macros but they will grow far faster in higher flow.

The HD light is definitely the cheapest :) But higher light will help produce more growth, there's a million options out there. The mangroves will prefer more sunlight/yellow light, while the macros will prefer more blue light, 8000K is the yellowest I'd go with them.

[d2mini]

Thanks, cat! I was about to go post on marsh just for your opinion, now i don't have to. :D
The light bulb i use now is a 3500k 30w spiral CF. Has done well for the mangroves. 8000k is the yellowist you would use? Any suggestions for a fixture/bulb that won't break the bank?

I've been leaning towards getting the fiji mud because it's something that's actually collected in fiji. The only thing i'm worried about with layering is the fiji supposedly dissipates over time requiring you to add more. What dsb sand (Lee) are you speaking of???

[tektite]

3500K-5000K would be great for the mangroves, its for the macroalgae that needs more blue light. A lot of people think of macroalgae as plants, needing more yellow light, but macros evolved along with corals at varying depths in the ocean and respond far better to more blue in the spectrum than terrestrial plants favor. That being said there are some shallow water high light macros that would do good under more yellow light. As far as cheap fixtures, I just buy used lol. Not too familiar with all the options out there right now.

Contact rlpardue on MARSH about the dsb sand, he can give you the lowdown on that.

[nemosworld]

Dennis I can build you a very cheap and effective fuge light if you want, and you can control it with your controller. LMK!

[Kataro]

When I had my Macroalgae tank, I ran the tank at around 14k range with my Radion.

It goes from morning with all yellow (6700k) to 14K at the highest, then ramp down in the evening.

I found that certain macro like different flow, with high flow... it allows for macro like Ochtode grow thicker and denser (in my experience); my dragonbreath also grew lush in direct high flow.

[d2mini]

Thanks, kataro. :)