Mangroves

[salvatore]

Do Mangroves provide the same kind of nutrient export as caulerpa? Better? Worse?
Anyone using them successfully (or unsuccessfully)?
Ive done some research but want to hear from those who are using them in real systems.

 

[spanish dancer]

...I thought that mangroves were freshwater plants...

 

[goldrush]

No,Mangroves are used in salt water.Some people use them in their refugiums.The reason I never have is two-fold. First it's said they do best with a"mud" substrate(not necessary though).The other problem I have is they need to grow OUT of the water or they drown(that is the plant part). My current set up won't allow that.

 

[saltynewbie]

ive searched the board and never really found a solid answer to my question -- what all do they require? i have a 30g fuge with a 4in DSB that i thought would be neat to put one in, but i read a post that said they needed to be misted with fresh water every day? could someone suggest some reading material?

 

[ilove2ride]

I hope I am allowed to post this link! I don't believe SWF sells mangroves...
http://www.twolittlefishies.com/imag...ove_manual.pdf

 

[j21kickster]

everything you could want to know is in that article

 

[salvatore]

I was inquiring about them for the refugium as well. The display has a 20g refugium with a 50w PC light over it on 12 hours a day. It would be perfect to house a few mangroves.
I'll give the article a read and see what I can see.
Thanks.

 

[dreeves]

I myself am messing with Mangroves right now. I have had them for about a week and a half. Too early to tell now though.
What I have found on them is this:
They are a freshwater plant/tree.
They are able to filter the freshwater out of the saltwater to live.
They perform very similar to an RO system in filtering the salt out.
They use magnesium to pump the water through (something like this).
They need iron, magnesium to thrive. They consume the nitrates, etc to live.
There is another site for mangroves http://www.athiel.com
This person has some pretty interesting statistics on them and the results of some testing he did with them. Impressive results with the testing.

 

[justin_ny]

i use mangrove ang my water is a littel bit yellow after using mangrove awhile
i think caulerpa much better thatn mangrove

 

[dreeves]

That athiel site addressed the yellow tint...something about the mangrove hasn't fully developed yet which causes it to only draw certain things out of water...it does say that it will correct itself once the mangroves mature.
How have they affected your nitrates and such?

 

[salvatore]

I added two mangroves the LFS ordered for me last night.
We'll give it a few weeks and see how they're doing.
One sprout has leaves on it, the other doesnt; they're both about eight inches long and about 2.5" are exposed above the waterline in the sump.