Converting mangroves

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Hey guys i picked some red mangroves at the beach a few months back with intentions on adding them to my sump. From day one I have had them in a HD bucket outside in freshwater. Now, a few months later I have beautiful root growth from most. I’m using an egg crate setup for the sump instead of styrofoam. I want to slowly acclimate the mangroves to salt before adding them to the sump. So my question is how do i do that? What is the proper way to acclimate them? I don’t want to just throw them in there and shock the mangroves. Do I weekly add salt to the bucket? Any help or info would be appreciated thanks in advance! I’ll try and post a pic

 

[ausndani]

Cool idea following this

 

[ThePurple12]

You should check out this manual written by Julian Sprung:

https://www.twolittlefishies.com/images/mangrove_manual.pdf


It says that to convert a freshwater mangrove to saltwater, first put it in slightly brackish water, then over several days raise it to full salt. That's kind of vague, but I'm pretty sure it means you can convert it over a week or 2.

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Thanks for the link! I will definitely read up on it! They are currently in brackish water in the bucket

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Wow what a great piece and very informational! Exactly what I was looking for thanks again. Can’t wait to add them and now off to a design for sump

 

[ThePurple12]

Sounds good!

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=5783&pictureid=81372

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Finally finished setup for mangroves! All I have to do after acclimating is put setup right into sump easy peasy lol

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=5783&pictureid=81374

 

[vlangel]

Very cool!

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Thanks!!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

So it's a mangrove filter? Interesting idea. Lucky you, that you can collect your own mangroves!

You're taking a plant not known for it's nutrient uptake efficiency and using it for just that. But that could be a good thing in the right situation. Very low nutrient reef tanks often cannot support the more efficient macros, like chaeto or caulerpa. They just don't have enough excess nutrients. The mangroves are likely to just chug along, no matter how low or high nutrients get.

Thinking long term, I don't think you should put them in your sump. The tangle of roots they will produce will likely take up too much room, making it difficult to add new devices, in the very place designed to put new devices. Plus you will need to light them. Lighting your sump will likely lead to algae in places you don't want it, like in your skimmer. Not a lot of room for growth either.

It may be better to place them in their own tank (refugium), plumbed into your system. This would allow you to put them wherever you want. Put them in front of a window and you don't need to light them. And having them out, you'll be able to see these beautiful plants. A more natural refugium also makes for a great display, as apposed to being hidden in the sump.

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Thank you so much for your experience and information on the subject I’ve had plenty of time to plan and research on my style setup and the care of the mangroves. Knowing that when I do add them I will closely monitor the health. If they don’t adjust I’ll just take them back to where I got them and plant here’s the setup:

The compartment after socks will be dedicated solely for them.

After that is a baffle chamber and then compartment where return pump, skimmer, heater and ATO is. I finished the eggcrate setup which will fit in dedicated compartment. And as to the roots growing I won’t have an issues for years to come. I have HD light for them which will be plenty.

 

[ThePurple12]

Wow, it's looking good.

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Thank you

 

[sEaLiFe4LiFe]

Hey guys sorry for the wait just wanted to make sure the mangroves had plenty of time to adjust to saltwater. Here’s a pic of the root system and in the sump...