Mangrove in DT

I have a 30g tank with no sump/fuge... so I was wondering, can I have Mangroves in my display tank? will there be any problems with that? also do they spread around my tank like caulerpa? I had caulerpa before, and it was so hard to get rid of... it was growing everywhere...

Also how many should I get to try to at least lower the nitrate a bit.. I dont have problems as of yet, but just thinking for the future..

 

you can, the easiest way is to get a strip of egg crate and put the mangrove seed pod thru it. you can use a rubber band around the top to keep it from falling back out. secure it to the back of the tank, they will get all the light they need from your tank lights.
not sure how big your tank is, I have 6 in my fuge along with several handfulls of chateo and my nitrates dropped from 20+ to less than 2.5 in a month in my 90.

 

So they do work then.. what about any sideaffects i might have if I put them in my DT tank?

 

no known side effects other than lowered nitrates and phosphates

 

They use a lot of magnesium as well, so you may need to start dosing that if you aren't already.

 

One worry is root control. They can find thier way into the silicone seals and cause problems so if you put them in make sure the roots system is visable and easy to get to for trimming when necessary.
I have 28 rooted trees in my fuge and they pull around 150ppm of mag out of my system per week so you'll need to start testing for and dosing that as Stepho mentioned.

 

So how should I plant them so that I can see the roots? Any tips?

 

I wouldn't recommend using them in a display tank unless you can contain the roots as has been mentioned. the roots can cause all kinds of damage. In Florida where they grow along the shore, they play havoc with concrete structures. They break up concrete into little pieces so imagine what they could do it they get a foothold under the silicone at a seam.

I have 4 of them in my fuge, I took a plastic shoe box, filled it with sand and planted them in the sand. unfortunately a set up like this would not look to good in a display tank.

 

so basically I should find some plastic container fill it up with some of my aquarium sand and plant them in it... hum...

thanx to everyone +k

 

You can use eggcrate to support them up off the bottom. Or you can float them using styrofoam but that would be ugly in a dt. You can use acrylic rods poked in to the sand and tie the mangrove to the rod...basically just don't put them where you cant access the roots or where the roots can find a corner. i.e. in the sand or in a corner. It's not like the root is going to go turbo and noticeably grow in a day. As long as you can see them you can keep them trimmed and prevent problems.