Mangroves

[Smitty]

Hello everyone...does anyone have any personal experience with mangroves? I just purchased 15 red mangroves from a guy on eBay and they should be here in a few days. I'm thinking of placing a few in the back of my overflow box and a few in the refugium.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Mine are growing very nice. I am growing them with a plant light. You should always wipe salt creep off of leave and make sure you collect all dead leaves. I think they may get to big for the overflow boxes. I string mine up to the floor joists for support. Otherwise they are straight forward. I thing the chaeto does just as good without the added work

 

[d2mini]

Smitty, I've got fifty of them.
Started from propagules from reefcleaners.org.
They are getting pretty tall so I'm going to start trimming them and the should start growing new branches, growing wide instead.

I don't wipe salt off. Instead I keep a spray bottle of RO water nearby and give them a good spray down every other day or so. It's like rain that way. :)

 

[Smitty]

Thanks for that advice bro. I do have cheato, dragon breath and another micro algae in my refugium already, and want the mangroves for a more natural look. I am a lil worried about the roots out growing the overflow, but I don't think it'll happen within a few years...by then I'd upgraded tanks. :)

 

[Smitty]

Thanks for that advice Dennis...I remember you having some also, and Im glad to see they are doing great. Seeing yours is what motivated me to try them also, so thanks. :)

 

[cvcdrk]

I see a lot of people working them so that they grow through egg crate holes to keep them separated and evenly spaced. Seems like a good idea to me.

It would be nice to be able to grow them. I think they're attractive.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

When i first put them in, you could see the light from the basement window. I seen a bunch of prints in my snow in the front yard (someone snooping) a couple of days later the police came by to "ask a few questions" crap, now everyone knows im a reefer! Gotta love small town life...

 

[Smitty]

I see a lot of people working them so that they grow through egg crate holes to keep them separated and evenly spaced. Seems like a good idea to me.

It would be nice to be able to grow them. I think they're attractive.

I think I might try that. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Smitty]

When i first put them in, you could see the light from the basement window. I seen a bunch of prints in my snow in the front yard (someone snooping) a couple of days later the police came by to "ask a few questions" crap, now everyone knows im a reefer! Gotta love small town life...

Hahaha...it's happened to a few of us here.

 

[kbuser92]

When i first put them in, you could see the light from the basement window. I seen a bunch of prints in my snow in the front yard (someone snooping) a couple of days later the police came by to "ask a few questions" crap, now everyone knows im a reefer! Gotta love small town life...

Pun intended..?

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Pun intended..?

Yep, true and funny!

 

[kbuser92]

Thought so.

Arent mangroves supposed to grow in that magic mud stuff or whatever its called?

 

[noy]

I see a lot of people working them so that they grow through egg crate holes to keep them separated and evenly spaced. Seems like a good idea to me.

It would be nice to be able to grow them. I think they're attractive.

The eggcrates are actually mounted and the pods are stuck between the eggcrate so they stay upright and the leaves stay above water. Another option is to use styrofoam you can poke holes in the foam and poke the pods through the holes. The foam floats and the leaves grow upwards while roots grow downwards. Don't under estimate how quickly the roots develop its quite aggressive.

This is my setup after a few months - my mangroves are much taller now and I will probably have to set up another tank for them soon. You can see the styrofoam setup. On the left side the foam is tucked under the flow into the refugium. One of the unexpected features of this is thats as the water flows over the foam - you get an algae scrubber.


IMG_4111 by Ngai On, on Flickr

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

I believe magic mudd is culture starter for the sump. I put mine directly into the deep sand bed

 

[Smitty]

Thanks for that info noy. Your mangroves look like they're doing great.