Gotta talk about my Mangroves.

cam78

cam78

Active Member
In July when I set up my reef (120 display and 200 total gallons) I decided to immediately insert Mangroves which I bought e b a y.
Knock on wood with A LOT of time and $$$$$$$$$$$$$ my system seems to be perfect. Looking at pictures from when I first set up the tank I noticed that the root system on my Mangroves have tripled in size. I was shocked. They are all in a refugium and have simple $2 Home Depot light fixture on them with a Home Depot LED bulb.
What is most impressive are my numbers, levels and how little my skimmer skims. I have a feeling the Mangroves have everything to do with it. Phos 0, Ites 0 and Trates 0. My skimmer skims but its not real dirty. I highly recommend Mangroves and wonder why more people don't talk or use them.
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
I am really interested in pictures of Mangroves, I would like to grow some but as a display perhaps, I am an avid gardener as well.
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Sorry for the quality but they are from my phone. Not bad though. Pics are top, roots then full view. I put that in caption but it does not appear for some reason!!
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
To be honest, I really don't think it's the mangroves. Their growth rate, even with the roots tripling in size since July, is still too slow to do much in the way of nutrient export. The 0 numbers you're seeing, are likely stemming from something else, low stocking levels, excellent filtration, etc.
I ran my 29gal with mangroves in the refugium (pic is from the early 2000's, excuse the quality). Liked ;em too. They might explain the difference between nitrates of 5ppm, and 0 ppm, but for ammonina or nitrates, I can assure you, they do nothing.
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Well it has to help Phosphates at the very least. And that is a huge help. Im not sure what it is exactly but they are here to stay. I do have excellent filtration so the nutrients that the Mangroves suck up is SOMETHING. Something is better than nothing.
Also the only mechanical filtration I have is the Protein skimmer and like I said it is not ever really dirty skimming. Sometimes it is thick brown gunk but that takes some time to get to. I also have a decent amount of groves which could help. There is a ratio that will help, then there is another ratio that will do nothing. One mangrove in 30 gallons of water will do nothing, but 26 will. Ya know?
 
mangrove1

mangrove1

New Member
Great Pic CAM78 and you are spot on with the H2O observations. The next time you need some propagules for the refugium give us a shout floridacoastalmangroves.com
We've got you covered!!!!!
Parker
 
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