Building the Ultimate Lagoon Ecosystem Vivarium

I'm attempting the impossible tank. A jungle zone, a tide pool zone, a mangrove forest zone, and an oceanic nursery, all in one giant biodiverse and specially designed vivarium. It's a place where the jungle, the tide pools, the mangroves, and the oceanic nursery, all converge into a single key habitat, offering a very specific set of niches for a massive array of life, a dynamic world shaped by the tides, where freshwater meets the salty in a brackish cocktail, creating a biologically rich and geologically complex cradle of space, tucked away in some of the most remote tropical parts of the planet, that a lot of people don't hear much about, but is absolutely vital to all life on Earth. And after having visited and experienced this incredible biome, and studied the insane array of specialized species that call it home, I, your Creator of Worlds, am committed to rise to the challenge of replicating it, as we attempt to recreate the ultimate brackish slice of nature, using state-of-the-art technology and some clever innovation, building what will become the world's greatest Lagoon Ecosystem Vivarium. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel, and hit the BELL icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy! I rushed outside to join the team. This is Billy, owner of Aquarium Philippines, the team I chose to help me bring Viv5, our future Lagoon Vivarium, to life. They represent over 15 years of saltwater tank building experience, and though Billy admitted that this Viv5 Lagoon Vivarium would be the most challenging tank he and his team have ever built, I knew they were among the best in the world, with the guts and skills to help me innovate and engineer this huge biological undertaking. Be prepared to be mind-blown today! But speaking of huge, we began to move the initial structure in. Now you may be shocked that this huge frame structure isn't the tank. This is merely the base on which the tank will sit, and carrying it up to the second floor of my home, where the Ant Room is, was a mission and a half. As the team lugged it up to my stairwell, I couldn't believe just how large the structure was. In my previous episode where I introduced the concept of this Lagoon Vivarium, some of you were concerned about the size of the tank, when you saw footage of us laying down the tape, saying the tank looked too small, but as I always say on the channel, don't be fooled by my wide angle lenses, which make things look smaller than they actually are. Perhaps this shot provides a better perspective of the true scale of Viv-5. I told you it's huge! I held my breath as the team carefully planned the logistics of how to properly squeeze the base past the wall art piece and signature Kenneth Kolbempoy chandelier. Eventually, we managed to slide it by and maneuver it into the Ant Room. Once inside, we positioned the base in place right beside Hydromeda, my tropical wetlands vivarium, to which it'll eventually be attached, and you will see soon how Hydromeda will actually feed Viv-5. The team also moved in the sump filter as the animals of the Ant Room looked on. They were intrigued by the sudden action and gear moving in, and little did they know, some of them would be getting a chance to actually experience life in Viv-5, when it officially attaches to the whole vivarium network. Next was glass. There were many pieces of glass for the construction of Viv-5, but on the night the shipment for the glass came in, I sadly couldn't stay to watch as I had to catch an important flight out, in order to attend a very special event. It was the day of the 30th annual Webby Awards, in New York City, the ultimate and prestigious awards night, headed by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. It's kind of like the Oscars, but for everything internet related. Celebrities were in attendance, the world's top internet personalities, and thanks to you guys, yours truly was also invited to accept not one, but two Webby Awards, for Best Long Form Series, as well as the People's Voice Award for Best Editing. Now as awesome and prestigious as all this was, the whole time I kept checking my CCTV camera on my mobile, as the team was building Viv-5 in the Ant Room. Now they didn't allow all awardees to accept their awards on stage, as there were so many winners, but AC Family, I'm happy to share that they let us up, and their only rule was, the acceptance speeches were to be a maximum of 5 words only. I was so honoured to represent you guys on that Webby stage. The epic up-close storytelling of AntsCanada offers a compelling answer to the question, what's the deal with ants, eh? Accepting the People's Voice Award for Creators Best Editing and the Webby Award for Creators Best Series, give it up for Mikey Bustos. That's ant for thank you! Upon returning home, I was pleased to see that I had arrived right on time for the fun. Now as the team builds the various sections of this lagoon, let me explain all the technical aspects, delve into the various microhabitats we'll build, and go over a few of the amazing creatures this lagoon vivarium will house, starting with what I think is one of the coolest features of this giant lagoon vivarium. Now in nature, due to the gravitational pull of the moon, water in the oceans is pulled outward which creates what is called a sublunar point, resulting in a high tide. During high tide, the water in lagoons and beaches are deepest and occur roughly every 12 hours. Now when the moon is far, the lack of gravity causes a low tide where lagoon and beach water level drops, thereby exposing areas which are submerged underwater during high tide to the air during this low tide period. I knew that for this lagoon vivarium to be a true lagoon, it required this constant gradual ebbing and flowing of the tides. Here we are marking off the high tide level, i.e. when the water level will be at its highest point. The dimensions of this volume of water during high tide are 2 feet deep by 9 feet long by 3 feet wide, which translates to over 400 US gallons or just over 1,529 litres of water. This here marks the low tide. Now you can better visualize how drastic the water level will change over time, depending on the time of day or night it is in the 24-hour cycle. This rising and falling of tides is actually a vital feature for all the life that inhabits lagoons, and I'll be getting more into that in a sec, but first, for those of you aquarium hobbyists that are scratching your heads wondering how the tides will rise and fall, well, let me explain. So see this little hole and pipe here? Now this pipe has two functions. When the tide is rising, water will be coming out of here from the main sub-tank filter, called the sump, but the moment the tank kicks into low tide mode, and the water level is scheduled to lower, the pump will stop and this pipe will switch functions where a special valve will have water dripping slowly through the pipe and back into the sump. Now to avoid overflowing, the sump will have another water reservoir to capture all of that extra water dripping in from above. The drip will be perfectly timed so that the tide will gradually fall and our Lagoon Vivarium will experience a period of lowering tide. Now down here marks the 4-inch sand layer of the oceanic part of the lagoon, and it's here where you will find these two pipes which will be attached to a separate canister filter, meaning not attached to the main sump, and this separate canister filter will be running 24 hours so that once low tide hits and the main sump will no longer be filtering, the oceanic part will still have filtration. Now once the Lagoon has hit the low tide mark and is ready to kick into high tide mode again, the sump pump will turn on and this pipe will switch to refill mode and bring the water level back up to high tide. Isn't that all just crazy? Now AC Family, wait, because there's more! It gets even crazier and more complex! Now this Lagoon Vivarium isn't just your straightforward saltwater tank, it's a brackish water habitat, meaning a mix of freshwater and salt. You see, lagoons are a very specific habitat where the freshwater from the land meets saltwater from the ocean, and is also known as an estuary, and here's where the magic of Hydromeda, the neighbouring freshwater tank, comes into play. The plan is to actually have water from Hydromeda feed our brackish system, just as it would happen in nature. Now a lot of you hobbyists wondered in the previous episode how we'd be pulling all of this off. Let me explain. You guys will love this! So as water from Viv5's Lagoon evaporates into the air, it causes an inevitable loss of water from the system, which due to mechanics, will result in the water level in the furthest chamber of the sump to drop. Don't ask me why that is, but it just does. Once this water level drops past a certain point, a sensor will trigger a pump to take freshwater which will be held in a separate freshwater reservoir that will go here in this area, to shoot up this pipe located in this section of the tank which will house the land rainforest area of the lagoon, and create a calm dripping stream to cascade down into this section here, where the freshwater will mix with the salty water from the ocean. Now get this, special wave makers during high tide will create oceanic waves which will bash against a beach area here, more about our beach area later, and inevitably spill some of that salty oceanic water into this freshwater mixing area here, so this area will have water with a lower salinity level, less than 15 ppt for you aquarium hobbyists, which is about a mid-level brackish water setup, and the larger oceanic part will have a slightly higher salt level, approximately 18 ppt. All salinity will be monitored via these cool gadgets called digital refractometers, which will be placed in both the oceanic and mixing areas. We'll have to periodically dose marine salt over time to ensure proper salinity in both these key zones. Now once the water level of this freshwater reservoir drops past a certain point, another sensor here in the freshwater reservoir will trigger another pump in hydrometa to siphon hydrometan freshwater out of hydrometa to top it off. In this way, we'll have a complete cycle of hydrometa's freshwater feeding VIV5, just like in nature. A third sensor will top off hydrometa with filtered freshwater from my tap as it continues to feed VIV5, which actually also means I no longer will need to do weekly routine water changes on hydrometa. Does all this make sense or did I lose some of you? Just know that this lagoon system is highly technical and required a lot of innovation and planning, but guys I'm about to blow your minds again regarding this mixing area. Some of you may have been asking why the partition to make it a separate mixing section and not just have freshwater mixed directly into the oceanic area. Well, turns out this mixing area is more than just a mixing area. This will be a haven for mudskippers, the cutest predatory fish that live in large communities, inhabiting both land and water, requiring very specific brackish conditions to thrive. The plan is to fill this area with a blend of mud which will contain what is called bentonite mud, an absorbent volcanic ash derived clay that when mixed with water creates the perfect mud for mudskippers. What's cool is the bentonite mud possesses a strong negative charge that attracts and binds to toxins, heavy metals, and oils, so it will actually also serve as an effective filtration medium for the lagoon system, particularly for the mudskippers. I expect the mudskippers to love digging their signature tunnels into this area, as well as the variety of beach crabs we hope to add in. Speaking of which, it's now time to talk about our beach! Yes, AC Family, we will have our very own personal beach, and check out how cool it is! The banks of the beach will have sand as well as these cool rocks, known as live rock. So live rock is the calcium carbonate skeleton of long-dead coral. It's called live rock because its porous nature provides a natural home for beneficial bacteria, microalgae, and tiny marine organisms to thrive, which help keep the water clean and healthy. The live rocks act as yet another natural filtration system for the lagoon and are key to any saltwater aquarium. These live rocks have been sitting in the sun outside my home for the past three weeks, in order to sterilize and bake all life from it. I learned that this is a necessary step, or we might unintentionally introduce unwanted parasites like bobbit worms into the system, which is a hell to the nah nah nah for me! Sorry guys, but no bobbit worms in Viv5! Aside from the live rock which will line our beach, the sand we'll be using for the beach, as well as the 4-inch layer at the bottom of the oceanic section, is natural beach sand, not the man-made sand of ground-up rock often sold in pet stores. This is the true beach sand of various grain sizes, composed of sun-sterilized fragments of long-dead coral. But guys, our beach area will also have some awesome feature areas! First, we have a few of these 3D printed caves, which we will line with sand on the inside, and silicone right up to the glass, so various beach creatures can live inside them, like crabs! We plan on placing these cave areas around the lagoon, which will be either submerged underwater, or exposed to the air, depending on the level of the tide. But if you think that's cool, check out another one of the coolest sections of our Lagoon Vivarium, just behind the beach! Tide pools are bodies of trapped ocean water which form when the tide recedes, creating sectioned off bowls of water in which many creatures choose to live. We plan on putting small tide pools here at the back, and I can't wait to see what creatures end up living in them! From starfish to anemone, sea urchin to crabs, I plan on filming the unique tide pool life when our lagoon is in low tide phase. The tide pools will also have their own source of clean salty water trickling in from the canister filter, the same one these heads attach to, so the tide pools stay clean and remain viable for its creatures when they form during low tide. But wait AC Family, that's not all! Speaking of clean water, moving on now to another cool microhabitat zone, perhaps one of the most important zones of our lagoon, which will act as yet another powerful filtration system. Mangroves are specialized plants that are adapted to live in salty water. A retaining wall at the back will section off this mangrove area, where we will place various pots of mangroves on top of bags of crushed coral and sand. The mangroves, as well as the beneficial microorganisms residing in this entire mangrove's area, will be a filtration powerhouse, as they eat toxic nitrates produced by animal waste and decaying organic matter in our lagoon. We also plan on creating faux mangrove roots to complement our smaller real mangroves for added realism, as well as climbing habitat for creatures like crabs and mudskippers. It'll be cool to see parts of the mangroves submerged during high tide and fully exposed during low tide, just like in nature. The mangroves will have a powerful set of growing lights, as well as some awesome sunlight, especially in the mornings when light comes streaming in through the windows, and I anticipate if the mangroves end up doing well in our lagoon, they will continue to grow up to the top where I hope to cut holes in the mesh to allow the mangroves to continue growing up through the net flooring above. Wouldn't that be awesome? Two-story tall mangrove trees eating up nitrates from the waters! Other cool vivify provisions include refugia like this canister which will act as a breeding chamber for phytoplankton, photosynthetic organisms which will feed small creatures which will be essential food for fish and other creatures in our lagoon. The phytoplankton will be slowly dripped into the lagoon ecosystem to power the food chain. Now as per the cool organisms we're hoping to add to the oceanic area, I will perhaps leave for another episode, but one of the coolest creatures I'm looking forward to adding are sharks. Lagoons happen to be sanctuaries for sharks, as they provide shallow habitats that help baby sharks escape predation from larger sharks and fish, as well as hunting grounds for them to feed. The species perfect for our lagoon is the Banded Bamboo Shark, which inhabit very shallow brackish lagoon waters. We have room to house a few baby Banded Bamboo Sharks, which I hope to hatch from eggs so we can document their lives as they grow up. Certain stingrays, lionfish, and archerfish are also possible species, as well as a plethora of other cool brackish water creatures. Basically, with the complex environmental conditions VIV5 will mimic, the possibilities will be endless. As of today, this is what VIV5 looks like. I can't wait for VIV5 to be fully scaped and up and running very soon. Once done, we will fill it with water, run it on its various cycles using fresh water first, then cycle it with salty water, making all our tweaks and adjustments over the course of the four weeks it will take to cycle and build up the necessary microbiota to get the lagoon system jump-started. It's at this time that I also plan on adding our very first inhabitant to VIV5, Godzilla, my young Spectacled Caiman. Spectacled Caimans are typically freshwater crocodilians, but are also found in brackish water lagoons in their native range, so he would be the perfect first inhabitant for VIV5, as his poop will help with the tank cycling. Overall, I am so honoured to be on this journey with all of you, AC Family, so guys do remember to subscribe to the channel to be part of this first-of-its-kind vivarium build, and hey, coincidence, we're almost at 7 million subs in this Season 7 of the Ecosystem Vivarium series! Oh yeah, and one more thing, I'm taking name suggestions for our Lagoon Vivarium, so let me know what you think we should name VIV5 in the comments section. Thank you all for the support, and I can't wait for what's ahead for us on our ongoing journey of biological discovery. Vote in my Community Tab to affect this story!