Mangroves

[aquavista99]

I purchased some really nice mangroves from Joel at Aquariums Etc today. They received a large shipment yesterday and each mangrove is fully germinated with a solid root structure and leaves (see pics below). Thanks, Joel!

[Baggerhog]

Yea I was up there yesterday and I purchased a few they are really nice. If anybody wants really nice mangroves Joel has them.

[CoralBeauties]

Are you using a skimmer with the mangroves?  I just read a pretty long article saying if you skim  to have the tank water go to the mangroves first before the skimmer.  On a common system the skimmer is the first to get the water.  I am planning out a 180 gallon build with a 55 sump and might like to incorporate some mangroves into the plan.

[aquavista99]

Are you using a skimmer with the mangroves?  I just read a pretty long article saying if you skim  to have the tank water go to the mangroves first before the skimmer.  On a common system the skimmer is the first to get the water.  I am planning out a 180 gallon build with a 55 sump and might like to incorporate some mangroves into the plan.

Yes, I use a skimmer on my system. My water is first filtered by my skimmer, then goes through macro algae (cheato ) before returning back to my reef.

 







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[micki]

Tim what exactly do the mangroves do?  Do you have them in your sump or where?

[Secondgen]

What do you do when they get to big? Do you trim them back or what?

[aquavista99]

Tim what exactly do the mangroves do?  Do you have them in your sump or where?

Micki, I attached a few links for you. The first link is pictures of mangroves from the wild (IE, they protect the reefs by  exporting phosphates and nitrates as a food source and they also protect the coastline from erosion, etc).

Mangroves are slow-growing plants, and their nutrient uptake is limited in the home aquarium do to size limitations (IE, most people cannot grow large trees indoors w/ massive root structures, etc). In the wild, the mangrove root structure will absorb lots organic material, phosphates, nitrates etc. from the water.

http://travel.mongabay.com/mangroves_photos.htm

The second link is an article about mangroves in the aquarium. I keep my mangroves in my 125 gallon macro sump.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/apr2002/feature.htm

[aquavista99]

What do you do when they get to big? Do you trim them back or what?

Yes. In the wild, mangroves can grow over 70 feet tall with a very large root structure. If not trimmed on a quarterly  basis, the small plants can get large over time.

Here is another good link on how to grow mangroves (w/ lots of pictures) ...

http://toptropicals.com/html/aqua/plants/mangrove/mangrove_eng.htm

[micki]

Thanks Tim!  I'll check those out later today.

[Secondgen]

The links are appreciated Tim.