Mangroves

[dpearly88]

I have some mangroves in a hang-on filter. They have only been there for a week (no growth yet). I guess if there is growth they must be taking something out of the tank (mostly organics). Down the road they could be part of a sump system next to the tank for looks and filtering (if they work). Once the mangroves get to large remove them and replant. That's my plan, but time will time if they are working for me anyways. Have other people had any luck with mangroves or what?

[davocean]

Mangroves are cool, but you'd have to have alot to see a real difference.
Don't expect them to really rid you of phos/nit.
Welcome to RC

[JamesJR]

They certainly are very interesting but I don't think they take up very much in the way of nutrients. Anyways, that is just what I read through some casual reading of some aquarium artivles.

The main thing with mangrove plants is good lighting like metal halide or sunlight. also, I had better luck mounting them at the top of the tank and then letting them root themselves. also, you need to spray off the salt that tends to build up on them and use only Fresh water.

here is a pic of a setup that illustrates what I am talking about.


http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/10/aquarium_album/photoalbum_photo_view?b_start=8

[SimilanRocks]

My nitrate used to be about 40. After i added 5 mangroves about a month ago, My nitrate is now non-detective. But i also added a new skimmer. I'm not sure it's the mangroves or the new deltec.

[davocean]

It's definitely the Deltec.
Deltecs kick butt!

[dpearly88]

I have a 10g set up that is running but empty (it only has a small hang on filter). Maybe I should induce high nitrates and phosphates and then put 1 or 2 mangroves in the tank and see what happens. Seems like that might be a good test.

[greenbean36191]

Don't forget to set up a control if you do. A few other people have tried to compare the efficiency of mangroves to other setups, but they never made a fair comparison.

[rdmpe]

I have a few mangroves growing in my fuge, I think they are interesting. But for nutrient export, I think my chaetomopha and gracileria ties up a lot more nutrients than the slow growing mangroves.

[dpearly88]

I've head that allot. But here is how I look at it. If there is growth of the mangroves something is being used out the tank.

Setting up a true controlled test will difficult, because of the wide number of variables involved in a saltwater tanks. And the fact that I don't have two identical setup tanks. But I'll see what I think up.

[Samala]

I've head that allot. But here is how I look at it. If there is growth of the mangroves something is being used out the tank.
Not necessarily. The large tuber (or propagule) portion of the commonly used red mangrove may contain considerable nutrition reserves that would allow the plant to grow in water where they could not readily access nutrients. So growth may not always mean that they are uptaking nutrients from the tank.

>Sarah

[dpearly88]

Good point.

[eddybabyhd]

I had great success growing them under a halide, but i had to feed just the plants sometimes. I felt they were not getting what they needed

here is a pic

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/eb6713/reef021.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/eb6713/reef078.jpg

i cant say that they didnt help alot, my skimmer almost produced nothing. Thats feeding three times a day

[dpearly88]

Nice looking setup! Isn't the halide over kill. What about a plant light or sun light from a window?

[eddybabyhd]

i had the halide, so i used that...but the compact flour bulbs that screw in at home depot ect. work well also

[Bullet]

eddybabyhd,

How do you have those mounted? I have 25 of them comming tomorrow and I am going to put them in my 100 gal stock tank but I do not know how I am going to mount them.

[eddybabyhd]

Take a bucket, or go get you one of those shallow tuberware things (shoebox size) and fill it with really fine sand and just push the pods into the sand, hang a light, and sit back. They take a few weeks to start rooting and leafing. But when mine did, they took off.

[dpearly88]

My mangroves started growing in less than a week. But they came from freshwater, so I'm slowly inceasing the salinity. I'm at 1.010 right now. Couple more weeks and they will be ready to be put to work!