I thinking of adding some Mangroves

[falconut]

My 90 gal. tank has been running for over 4 years and I have a 20 gallon sump and 20 gal. refuge. The refuge has about 3-4" of fine sand for the bottom and about 10 lbs LR with Chaeto. I was thinking of adding some Mangrove plants.

From what I've read, it appears the leaves need to be sprayed down every other day to remove the excess salt. They also need to be trimed as they grow to tall. And I believe I read they need to have the roots trimed as they get really large (not in the beginning).

I was thinking of adding them into my refuge with the chaeto. The refuge has no lid and a 65W PC about 8" - 10" above the middle, so I could put them to the side and it would give them plenty of room. I saw somebody had them lightly rubber banded to a plant stick, so they were elevated off the bottom and the tip was out of the water.

I am just worried about the roots becoming too entangled in the sand/LR. Can they be grown like this? Suspended in the water and as the roots get too close to the LR/sand, trim them?

Any help here would be appreciated.

 

[mangrove.at]

Hello!

If you want mangroves for filtration you will need about 10 mangroves. Those would filter nitrit, nitrat and phosphat.

It is true that you can trim them, but that is normally not necessary, as most mangrove species grow pretty slow, especially at home.

Several mangrove species, especially the Avicennia sp. and Aegiceras sp. do have salt glands on their leaves, if you have one of these you need to wash the leaves about one a week. A friend of mine took his 1 and a half meter tall Avicennia every weekend out of his aquarium an put it into the bathroom for showering the mangroves.

Other mangrove species like Rhizophora sp. or Bruguiera sp. do not need to be washed.

The roots can become large, but this also takes a lot of time.

From experience I can tell you that it is not good for mangroves growing suspended in water!! They will survive for a few months, maybe will get 2 or 3 pairs of leaves and die after about 12 months.

The roots need something to grow in, doesn't matter if its coral sand, living stones or something else.

You can also put coral breakage into pots and put the mangroves into the pots, this way you can control the mangroves a little bit better.

Best regards,

Paul

 

[falconut]

So the roots need to be in something. I'll look into pots or baskets. What are others using?

Does anybody have any photos of their Mangroves?

 

[mangrove.at]

Just a few moments ago I added some pictures of mangroves and how to keep mangroves:

Check this post:
Sorry removed for violation~dc

 

[falconut]

mangrove.at - Wow. They look really nice. Do they have to be that tall or could I prune them down? I only have about 12" between the top of the water and the bottom of the light. Also, the guy after your post says they're questionable as to how much filtering they do for a tank. How good do you find they filter?

 

[sikpupy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15242971#post15242971 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mangrove.at
Just a few moments ago I added some pictures of mangroves and how to keep mangroves:
*EDIT*

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!! You have a mud skipper??? Man, I want one, lol.

 

[Ron Popeil]

i have five of them in my tiny little refugium near the window. these are the first ones ive had do well. i tried them suspended because i wanted the look of those long thick roots, but as Mangrove said, they died after a few leaves. then i tried some rooted, but they didnt fare well either.

the ones i have now are well rooted in about two inches of sand and i spray them down about twice a week. they get residual light from my halides and the small PC light over the refugium but mostly sunlight as theyre next to a window. the spraying of the leaves, in my opinion, encouraged rapid growth.

however, im going to remove them and plant them in their own containers shortly. im finding it impossible to maintain my magnesium with them growing in my system.

they are a very cool plant and i look forward to them getting huge!

 

[ludnix]

I have 10 red mangroves in my tank. I have to occasionally trim the tops to keep them from growing too tall given my limited space, but it isn't very often.

Mine are just in a deep sand bed, they can put out the roots to support themselves very fast, but after that they roots seem to be very slow growing.