Show your Mangrove Systems

[andrewkw]

I think the thing is you just need a lot of them. I have about 100 in my 50g frag system. That's actually too many but I think 1 per gallon is a good number.

My frag tank itself is pretty messy these days, but I no longer run a skimmer (nothing comes out when it's on). The few frags in the tank are growing well.

There are no fish, so nutrients are low and the mangroves have really slowed in growth. In comparison I put 2 in my 2 gallon pico and they are growing quicker. I do spot feed a few things with frozen food so they are still getting a bit.

May 11th

Sept 19th

That's a 15g plumbed into my 30g frag tank.

 

[KafudaFish]

Other than Khaosinc does anyone else have them in their display? Kind of interested in doing a mangrove display.

 

[Rockhead21564]

Hey all, I'm doing a 300g mixed reef. I'm really wanting to do a mangrove setup in a 55g "sump/refugium. How many mangroves can I go with, long term? I want to over flow the mangrove/sump into the "skimmer/refugium/return sump" work okay? Thanks all.

 

[gasbatalla]

I think 1 per gallon is the rule

 

[OckMed]

haha 300 mangroves is kinda alot

 

[sjmantis]

I always thought this build was amazing:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1613916&highlight=mangrove

 

[Jay Fortay]

I Just started some in my 20 long. I think the one per gallon rule is just as relative of a statement as any other "per gallon" rule. Are we talking one seed per gallon, or one full grown plant? Because I don't think that anyone has enough room for a full grown plant, but I have a feeling that it filters a bit more "per gallon" than a rooted seed would. always remember... If you have 25 gallons you definitely have room for a 25 inch white shark.

 

[bahadirkargili]

mangrove project

mangrove project

This was cause they need the high nutrients to grow. Freshly made salt water has none in it. Keep usin the "dirty" old tank water.

?

your mangroves arent plumbed directly in with your dt some how? How do they help your tank then?

I haven't yet plumbed mangrove tank to my main display because; I first wanted to experiment abit and see how mangroves had an effect on water parameters and nutrient levels.Their reaction to natural sunlight i use was a concern.
Now i see they absorb nitrates and phosphate pretty well.Grown roots.I had some problems with some of them,trimmed the roots by advie offered them a longer photoperiod of light.Some died some survived this process.
Now, I ordered an aquarium which is 150/75/50(h) cm. After the salt water is ready the live sand will be added tank will start its cycle for a while until the live rock is added followed by a piece of shrimp to continue the cycle.
When the cycle is over and water parameters are same, i'll plumb the two tanks main(1000liters) and mangrove tank (500liters) i will put all my mangroves in its place and follow the parameters close.Thats my plan.I ll share this experience through RC forums.
If you have any comments,advices or questions feel free to ask please.

 

[aquavista99]

Fantastic thread! I have a 300 gallon SPS display tank which is connected to a 125 gallon glass refugium aquarium filled with mangroves and chaetomorpha macro algae. I attached a few pictures of my mangrove/chaetomorpa refugium below. . My mangroves are grown under one Ushio 10k 175 watt halide bulb using an adjustable Lumenarc III reflector.

side view of the display tank

 

[aquamanpc24]

My mangrove shots.. there are 3 different locations using black and red mangroves. I will be getting my white mangroves this week! I waited 4 years for them!
first picture shows what I placed them in while they woke from dormancy after being shipped. Simple mud and aragnite substrate and moist not wet, once the upper substarte started to dry I knew they were "awake" and lowered the bin into a rubbermaid tote/sump

in the other pictured setup I took a 40g breeder drilled and plumbed it into my 33 reef and used a small glass pictank propped up on pvc and covered by live rock to hold mangroves in it.

there is also a 30gallon rubbermaid storage tote that has the 24" tall blacks that I found last year online that are still being acclimated to a brackish level. when it comes to mangroves I am the man in my group of friends, I set them up in evewryones tank I make and modify acrlic viewers for the people who want to try them. I noticed in some of the other shots that they are way to many propagules in a single container. They will strangle their siblings to death in that small of an area. not to mention potentially block their light.

 

[aquamanpc24]

had to make 2 posts for pics

 

[rick12]

do the plants need pruning? if so how do you do it?

 

[aquamanpc24]

do the plants need pruning? if so how do you do it?

not anytime soon. The plants pictured from me the lush green guys are all 2-3 years old and require a spray of clean water (daily if possible but I sometimes default to every sock change for the tank 2-3 days tops), some iron additive in every other water change for my preference and to answer another guys question, they keep my heavily fed FOWLR at .25 to 0 nitrates and no phophates YES my skimmer may help (but its a shi**y one) its an awful etss and I am well on the way to replace it with a SRO 5000 as my reef uses a SRO 1000.

pruning might be required in some of the tanks photoed where they will be starving their buddies for water or light but they are not known as fast growers IMO. The forests in the wild are pretty slow growing, but they do grow much faster due to perfection of their environment. the right rain the right food source etc...

 

[mscarpena]

I had my mangorves in a hang on back fuge, but had issues because my leaves fell off and plugged the return line. Tank flooded 2x's. After that I ditched that hang on back fuge and mangroves went with it. I loved them, but too much of a hassle.

 

[XtremeFromHell]

Mine has not been an issue for me at all, in fact i love it! Its grown so much since my last post on this thread, it just sprouted 3 heads. Im now getting close to where it may be a problem because eventually its going to get huge, i dont want to cut it or trim it, in fact i WANT it to grow large. I was thinking i may need to move it from my sump and set it in a seperate tank tied into my current tank.

 

[aquamanpc24]

yeah at that height you will want to move it to a seerate fuge I am building something for my smaller tanks that siphons water out of display into a pot that holds them and drains into the sump. I literally just got 50 white mangrove seeds and 30 blacks seeds and planted them in huge window sill pots and will transfer them to tanks after they have sprouted and fully germinated. I love mangroves! I now have all 3 main types!

 

[capecoral]

If only all tank filters looked as nice :O

 

[XtremeFromHell]

yeah at that height you will want to move it to a seerate fuge I am building something for my smaller tanks that siphons water out of display into a pot that holds them and drains into the sump. I literally just got 50 white mangrove seeds and 30 blacks seeds and planted them in huge window sill pots and will transfer them to tanks after they have sprouted and fully germinated. I love mangroves! I now have all 3 main types!

thats awesome! i love mangroves as well, i want more of them lol

Im thinking of hooking up my system to a 10 gallon tank on the side and place my mangrove in there as well as a very deep sand bed and maybe some mud. i have my roots dug under the sand in the container and it works great like that but im afraid of disturbing it when i remove it from the container and place it freely in the tank.

 

[bryan007]

These are trees that grow in full sunlight in their habitats. So to do well intense lighting will eventually be needed and MH is best. If light is too low you will end up with weak plants that won't do well. Young plants do ok in lower light intensities becuase they are generally shaded by more mature trees but as they grow they will require the more intense lighting as with natural sunlight. These really are not the best plants to use for nutrient uptake and as a horticulturist I'm really at a loss as to why this has become so popular. Under MH lighting and huge systems these would work fine but the root system if they live long enough will fill up a tank. The other problem is when they grow above the lighting system growth will slow or stop since the young plants won't receive adequate light. If the main reason everyone is looking to use these plants is for nutrient uptake the macro algae is the best means to follow. There are some really beautiful macro algae that can be used within the tank for nutrient uptake.

 

[capecoral]

Hmmm... here is some info which may help regarding algae... I've been posting it mostly to help in feeding corals but there is a lot of algae info too...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1843241