Mangroves in Sump

[malx]

Hi, All.

Anyone here grow mangroves in their sump?
How did you do it?
What were the challenges?
What kind of nutrients did you have and how did they help with that?
Did you use Sand or Rock or both?
How tall did they get?

My sump is behind my tank and slightly below it, so if I can get some tall Mangroves to grow out of it, it would look really nice.

I am interested to hear everyone's experiences.

Cheers,
Joey

 

[JohnZena]

I just put a 75 gallon display refugium together. I will post a pic. I built a retaining wall between the overflows about10 inches high. At the top I have 2 inches of sand and below the sand I have 4 inches of refugium mud. There are plenty of mangroves online to be purchased. I have a good friend who has had mangroves in his refugium for years. His advice to me is to spray them with fresh water daily to rinse the salt off of them. Other than that they do there own thing. They are awesome.

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[teddscau]

I know, you asked for specifics about keeping them in saltwater, but I find they grow roots very quickly if you buy one of those specimen containers for hanging in your tank, fill it with tank water, substrate, and put a ton of snails in there. Then you stick the mangrove in there with its first pair of leaves above the water. The roots will grow EXTREMELY fast as the mangroves just love the snail feces! I did this with my freshwater tank, and the red mangroves just started sending out fat roots immediately.

 

[davocean]

They don't really pull a whole lot of nutrients, so don't expect too much, and I agree they need leaves sprayed clean daily for best results, so keep that in mind too.
They do look cool.

 

[malx]

They don't really pull a whole lot of nutrients, so don't expect too much, and I agree they need leaves sprayed clean daily for best results, so keep that in mind too.
They do look cool.

Yeah I do spray them.

 

[malx]

I know, you asked for specifics about keeping them in saltwater, but I find they grow roots very quickly if you buy one of those specimen containers for hanging in your tank, fill it with tank water, substrate, and put a ton of snails in there. Then you stick the mangrove in there with its first pair of leaves above the water. The roots will grow EXTREMELY fast as the mangroves just love the snail feces! I did this with my freshwater tank, and the red mangroves just started sending out fat roots immediately.

Interesting tip about the snail feces. I did design this sump to grow mangroves. I put some test pieces in and only one is doing well, the others are dying. I might not have enough snail poop for them. Will throw a snail in the sump, good idea.

 

[JohnZena]

Poop and mud. If you read the articles on planted tanks, they all swear by the refugium mud. It has nutrients in it that the mangroves thrive on. One planter called it steroids for mangroves. I'm going to try the snails also if I can isolate them from my macroalgaes. I swear they think macros are candy.

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[malx]

Poop and mud. If you read the articles on planted tanks, they all swear by the refugium mud. It has nutrients in it that the mangroves thrive on. One planter called it steroids for mangroves. I'm going to try the snails also if I can isolate them from my macroalgaes. I swear they think macros are candy.

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Do you know what kind of mud?

 

[JohnZena]

Ecosystem Miracle Refugium Mangrove Mud via eBay.

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