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#1
12/21/2007, 02:34 PM
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Lucky's idea on mangroves
hello all,
So I have taken my interest in a fuge to the next level. (the reasearch) I have come to the point where I have decided to grow mangroves in this fuge. I had first thought of just growing them in my overflow box's how neat would that be... To have a 2-3 foot tree standing up out of the tank on each rear corner? My overflow box's measure 9"x12" and there's one in each rear corner. So I have been doing a lot of reading on mangroves. I have learned that they do grow quite big in time. But you can maintain them to stay small. 1.) by clipping the leafs (as long as you allways leave one leaf) 2.) by triming the roots. 1.) This has caused concern. If I up-root them to trim the roots, will this release the toxins that are normally found in a D.S.B.? 2.) when I suspend the seeds (1/2 in the water1/2 out) does it matter how far the roots are from the bottom of the fuge? My water would be about 20" deep and I plan to float them with the styro-foam method, this would put the root buds aprox. 14" from the substrate. I have decided to build an acrylic fuge, rather than use my overflow box's. If I build a 2'x2' cube I can put it in the corner between my D.T. and the wall. This would allow me to run from the overflow box on the D.T. directly to/through the fuge without a pump, saving elec. and waste heat. It would also allow it to be out in the open where it can be seen as a D.T. of its own. I'd put a small power head in the opposite end with a air stone in front of it. This should give me good cross current. Form there the water would go to the sump, Where it will go through the filteration and back to the D.T. I have read that in time the mangroves would allow me to totaly remove my skimmer? There has been alot of tests done on this theory. 1.) in a tank with 1 mangrove per 10 gal. of water they were able to take the skimmer out and cut the water changes by 50% in just 1 year. Compared to the same exact set-up w/o the mangroves 2.) the oxegen and c.dioxide levels were twice as good also. The list goes on and on. As part of my research on this I would like to get experienced input as well. (thats where you come in) I think this would be a neat thing to build while the winter cold bindes my to the house. I will keep this updated as I learn and go on over the course of the winter. So any thoughts? Lucky
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Fast women... Expensive hobbies... Whats left? |
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#2
12/22/2007, 01:47 PM
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lucky
your ideas sound like good ones!  perhaps for more of a response you might move this to the main reef discussion forum... either way i am interested in hearing input on this personally have no experience w/ mangroves but would like to learn more... i always thought that it would take a forest of them to do any good for the tank... looked into doing them once... sounds like you have done some research fwiw here are a few links i saved Best Plants and Algae for Refugia By: Anthony Calfo http://www.reefland.com/rho/1104/main.php Best Plants and Algae for Refugia - Part II "Vegetable Filters" By: Anthony Calfo http://www.reefland.com/rho/0105/main2.php regards |
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#3
12/22/2007, 06:15 PM
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WarrenAmy&Maddy,
Hey thanks for the links. I'll check them out. I had a few replies tp a post that was in the discussion forum on mangroves, But was directed here. ? Figured why not since this is going to be an on going project. I will keep this updated as I go. But I don't really plan on starting this till after the holidays pass. This should give me enough time to finish my research. On a second note, From what I have read if you just let the root system grow and keep the leafs limited to 1 or 2, in a few months you will find that you have to start removeing your skimmer and some of the trees as well because the nutrient levels fall to low... In theory if you have 1 tree per 10 gal to start you may very well end up with only 5 in a 100gal. after just one year.? This is what I really want to find out. Merry X-mas Lucky
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Fast women... Expensive hobbies... Whats left? |
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#4
12/22/2007, 08:47 PM
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I did a system similar to that. I had about 200 mangroves for 300 gallons of water. Water from the 180gallon display tank flowed into a mangrove tank. Water then flowed into a 25 gallon Display tank, then into a 100gallon sump (all gravity).
I had algae problems while using just macroalgae and mangroves as filtration. Added a skimmer, which helped but still had algae problems. Bought a UV sterilizer and fixed the problem. My conclusion on mangroves: Grow them if you like how they look. There are better, more efficient ways of nutrient removal. If you want big, pretty mangroves, you will need to ADD nutrients to the sand/soil bed. 
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#5
12/22/2007, 08:55 PM
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#6
12/22/2007, 10:59 PM
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WOW, that is really nice... If I can accomplish just half that I'll be so proud of myself.
Really nice of you to share that. Thank's Lucky
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Fast women... Expensive hobbies... Whats left? |
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#7
12/23/2007, 04:16 PM
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Triterium: Any updates to your greenhouse? I am very interested in seeing more. Have you considered geothermal cooling?
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