fishysteve
New member
Is 36 watts of 10K T5 enough to grow mangroves or should I give them more?
Lighting for mangroves
- Thread starter fishysteve
- Start date
Young Frankenstein
New member
Mangroves love light 
the more the better. But dont expect any rapid growth from them, they are very slow growers.
the more the better. But dont expect any rapid growth from them, they are very slow growers.Calfo says....
"Lighting is a simple mater with mangroves. they are quite adaptable to a wide range of light but prefer bright illumination. expensive reef aquarium fixtures are not necessary however. common plant bulbs from the local hardware store are quite fine. many aquarists have grown nice mangroves under incandescent plant-growth spectrum floodlights or spotlights, including mercury vapor and metal halide lamps. fluorescent lamps are found in useful spectrums, however they lack intensity in all but the closest placement applications with mangroves."
also... "there is no such thing as 'too bright' when lighting properly acclimated mangroves"
*cough* good typing practice. T5s are usually the exception when it comes to the limits of fluorescent lamps but this is only when they are high output and have individual reflectors. Since incandescent grow lights would work fine why not just use them?
also make sure to clean the leaves by misting, daily or several times weekly. they exude salt onto their leaves and if left will limit their growth... presumably interfering with photosynthesis
"Lighting is a simple mater with mangroves. they are quite adaptable to a wide range of light but prefer bright illumination. expensive reef aquarium fixtures are not necessary however. common plant bulbs from the local hardware store are quite fine. many aquarists have grown nice mangroves under incandescent plant-growth spectrum floodlights or spotlights, including mercury vapor and metal halide lamps. fluorescent lamps are found in useful spectrums, however they lack intensity in all but the closest placement applications with mangroves."
also... "there is no such thing as 'too bright' when lighting properly acclimated mangroves"
*cough* good typing practice. T5s are usually the exception when it comes to the limits of fluorescent lamps but this is only when they are high output and have individual reflectors. Since incandescent grow lights would work fine why not just use them?
also make sure to clean the leaves by misting, daily or several times weekly. they exude salt onto their leaves and if left will limit their growth... presumably interfering with photosynthesis
fishysteve
New member
Thank you everyone for your input. I think I'll but a couple floodlights to add to the T5s.
lakshwadeep
Member
shred5
Premium Member
My mangroves grew fast and I did not give them much light. They got some spill light from my halides. They also sat between two windows but the blinds were almost always closed.
My theory on why mine grew so fast is, if you have ever been in a mangrove swamp you will know not much light gets down to the ground. A little mangrove has not much light down there and has to grow relatively fast to reach the sunlight. If a mangrove starts out in the sunlight there is no need to grow fast because they are already receiving allot of light. But I always hear how slow they grow and mine grew fast and that is the only explanation I can come up with.. I would guess the larger the mangrove get the more light it would need though. So I honestly do not believe they need allot of light when little but more as they grow.
Is 36 watts of 10K T5 enough to grow mangroves or should I give them more?
Hard to say. How do you get 36 watts of t-5? They come in either 24 or 39 watts unless you are not running ho lamps. I would say you need at least HO lamps. You might get away with that while it is really little... I would also turn to a bulb closer to the kelvin of the sun like 5500k to 6500k
Dave
My theory on why mine grew so fast is, if you have ever been in a mangrove swamp you will know not much light gets down to the ground. A little mangrove has not much light down there and has to grow relatively fast to reach the sunlight. If a mangrove starts out in the sunlight there is no need to grow fast because they are already receiving allot of light. But I always hear how slow they grow and mine grew fast and that is the only explanation I can come up with.. I would guess the larger the mangrove get the more light it would need though. So I honestly do not believe they need allot of light when little but more as they grow.
Is 36 watts of 10K T5 enough to grow mangroves or should I give them more?
Hard to say. How do you get 36 watts of t-5? They come in either 24 or 39 watts unless you are not running ho lamps. I would say you need at least HO lamps. You might get away with that while it is really little... I would also turn to a bulb closer to the kelvin of the sun like 5500k to 6500k
Dave
fishysteve
New member
Shred5 - Current makes a 2 x 18 watt HO T5. Thatfishplace.com
Denver aquarist
New member
For my refugium which has one mangrove and blade caulerpa I use a $7 compact florescent bulb from Home Depot along with a $10 clamp lamp found in electrical. It works great!
Light Bulb:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...3&productId=100527347&N=10000003+90051+503266
Clamp Lamp:
http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/product/234997_front200.jpg
Timer:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...10053&productId=100024041&N=10000003+10051001
Light Bulb:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...3&productId=100527347&N=10000003+90051+503266
Clamp Lamp:
http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/product/234997_front200.jpg
Timer:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...10053&productId=100024041&N=10000003+10051001
