SantaMonica
Well-known member
Good posts like these mangroves makes it much more interesting and easier to follow. Even if I could learn to take good pics like these, finding the time (days) becomes a challenge 
Mangroves, aquariums and you!
- Thread starter Giga
- Start date
Chrisrush
New member
Hi Giga,
I got my 3 mangrove pods the other day and they are floating on the surface of the tank water in some styrofoam. I'd like to anchor them down a bit. Could I add them to a tupperware cup of sand covered in sand to blend in with my rock? Make any sense? I'll snap a picture and post in a few.
I got my 3 mangrove pods the other day and they are floating on the surface of the tank water in some styrofoam. I'd like to anchor them down a bit. Could I add them to a tupperware cup of sand covered in sand to blend in with my rock? Make any sense? I'll snap a picture and post in a few.
Chrisrush
New member
View attachment 249324
Larger of the three (only one with roots) feels a little squishy. Should I pull it from the SW?
Attachments
lemkerailroad1
New member
I see these floating, but I thought red were good to plant into sand??????
EdimarOliveira
Member
Giga, congratulations for the quality of the information! I have a red mangrove in the refuge and bother me, really, the lack of better information to keep you healthy. I have to improve my methods, for sure!
Thanks!
Thanks!
McPuff
New member
Really good information! I am thinking of getting a mangrove for my sump/fuge but wonder if I have enough light. Right now I'm running a DIY LED and it's 14 x 3W yet each diode has a 90deg lens. It's bright enough to grow SPS on the bottom so I assume it's bright enough to grow mangrove at/above the water line. Would this be a safe assumption? Thanks for the advice!
Giga
New member
Just watch them that there not killing the leaves and giveing to much direct light, but yes should be good
2 through 4 mm mostly 2.5 and 3 and it only takes a month or so for the branches to set, so once you do the wire and move the branch don't touch it again till you have to remove the wire.
saltwater sam
New member
Hey Giga, I just have to express my admiration. You have some beautiful trees, and some very insightful information. I've read lots of articles and forums where people keeping mangroves seem to think they need to suspend their mangroves out of substrate in order to grow prop roots, but as you explained in this thread that isn't the way to grow healthy plants. As a fellow mangrove enthusiast I thank you for the info and guidance!
Giga
New member
Thanks!-I'm not saying there wrong necessarily, but I feel as this is "best practice" in regards to growing mangroves, as I've been growing them a long time outside there native enviroment.
saltwater sam
New member
It just seems like those plants fail to thrive. I have actually used the method from Anthony Calfo's article (tying plants to stakes keeping the roots out of substrate) on a tank full of red mangrove seeds and it just doesn't seem like the right way to go. The roots grow super long and they don't develop leaves at any kind of healthy rate. It's like you said, it takes up to 2 years for prop roots to develop. You should not try to force a seed to develop prop roots right from germination, that's not what they do in nature. The stem won't be green by the time aerial roots start to develop, that's a good rule of thumb.
saltwater sam
New member
When you have new, green branches that just sprouted, do you usually wire them right away or wait for them to get longer?
Giga
New member
When you have new, green branches that just sprouted, do you usually wire them right away or wait for them to get longer?
I wait till they are longer and not green as you can dmg or kill a new branch that is that new. You can use maybe guide wire but I would wait to wire it a bit
For a good while now, My tree has had a lot of yellow in the leaves. This is a different tree then in my post on page 1. It's in a 2.5 gallon tank. Its been under a kessil A-150 ocean blue. I have since changed to a different bulb. A CFL bulb that's 6500-K. Are the yellow leaves due to the lighting or is it not getting enough nutrients? The tank has nitrates but always tests zero on phosphates. (Hanna 713 meter)
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Giga
New member
For a good while now, My tree has had a lot of yellow in the leaves. This is a different tree then in my post on page 1. It's in a 2.5 gallon tank. Its been under a kessil A-150 ocean blue. I have since changed to a different bulb. A CFL bulb that's 6500-K. Are the yellow leaves due to the lighting or is it not getting enough nutrients? The tank has nitrates but always tests zero on phosphates. (Hanna 713 meter)
Edit;
A pic
Almost looks like chlorosis, which is lack of green chlorophyll. If I were to guess it would be due to lack of light and nutrients, emphasis on the nutrients. Are there fish in that tank with the mangrove, and are you doing water changes? Can also be caused by root dmg if you been moving it around at all.
try dosing small amounts of iron, manganese, zinc, and/or nitrogen and maybe upping the amount of light
No there wasn't any fish in the tank but, the nitrates stay around 50 in that tank due to a lack of water changes. The tree has been in place for a good while now. Occasionally I dose the tank with phosphate. The light has been recently switched out for another one. I'm now using (temporarily) a 23 watt cfl. I want to get an led bulb for it and the tank.
It could have used up the magnesium in the tank in the past. However I've started doing water changes on this tank a couple weeks ago. Maybe a kessil a-150 ocean blue won't grow mangroves? Way too much blue light.
