mangrove opinions, anyone tried this

so i looking at changing this up alittle in my fug. i was hearing things about mangroves. does anyone have any experince with these plants? anyone have these guys in their fug? and where would be a good place to buy online?

 

Mangroves and fuges do not go to gether to well unless you are blasting so much water through the fuge the DSB has no time to do its job. Mangroves need as fast of flows as you can give them.. Thats why the people who put them in the overflows and such have better groth rates and lowered no3 and po4 above the ones that are set in a slow moving fuge set them in a space in the main sump. They need a lot of light

 

hhhummmmmm, but i dont want alot of flow in my fug...but do you think one would be able to live in a hang on overflow box? lighting is as much of an issue, that i have covered.

 

Yes they will live in a overflow box thats where most put them on the second try They need flows and light.. I used to put M/H over my old mangrove trough and sent about 1,000GPH in one end and out the other in a 7' x 2' x 2' they did very well was selling them left and right .

 

so if i can find the place for them, it would be a good idea to have a couple. do you have any on your tanks? do they work any better then culurpia? now i dont know if this is true mabye you do, but i read that if you get the right amount of mangroves established you dont need to use a skimmer.

 

That of course would have to do with your bio load, but I keep hearing skimming removes more than fish waste. Some heavy metals and some toxins are also removed while skimming, if I remember correctly.

I do have red mangroves under a florescent light ( 16 W) about eight or ten of them, and they are doing better (Growing more) than the caulerpa that's in the fuge with them. Mind you, I think I may have to supplement some iron, because the Caulerpa looks so washed out. But I have caulerpa, cheato and the mangroves in the same 10 gallon tank.
I also have them in SLOW flow, they grow in swamps and marshes with mosquitoes the size of bulldogs as well as along fast moving shorelines.

I have a few that I pulled from the tank and acclimated to fresh water, I intend to add them to a backyard pond, because they're a native plant here.
THey're tough,and very adaptive. I originally got twenty for a dollar apiece from an Ebay seller in Hawaii.
Good luck,

 

I have about 12-15 of them in my refugium. My results differ from what is mentioned below. My mangroves have grown nicely with a slow flow. I have mangroves with some cheato. Luna

 

I really hesitate to go against Tangster on this least the salt water gods strike me down! LOL

Mangroves great in low flow. They grow in nature in areas of almost no flow what so ever some grow in basically no water at all just wet earth. The key to good growth with them is two fold, light and nutrition. If grown in a low light high nutrition area they will grow roots great guns but very little leaf growth. If you reverse this they will grow albeit a little slow but they will grow leaves faster than roots (its still really slow). If given both they will grow great at both ends.

As far as needing sand I have been growing them in my pond every summer, I cut a ring of Styrofoam with a hole in the center for another water plant then put holes on the outside of the ring and "hang" the mangroves in this ring, which leaves the root hanging in mid water. The only issue I have ever had was if I don't keep the Koi and goldfish well fed they tend to eat any new growth that may happen in the roots.

The one thing I will caution you on is the roots, in their natural element they are considered by most property owners as a invasive weed. As the roots grow they can and do break concrete into little pieces. In an acrylic or glass tank or sump I would not recommend letting them grow close to the seams as the can and have grown into spit the seams of both causing leaking, and damage. I am going to put mine in my fuge in a Tupperware container with holes drilled in it, lined with nylon screen and filled with sand, this way I can keep the roots trimmed and under control.

 

I have kept these in fast flow and had good results from them as long as I kept the leafs from getting too close to the light.

 

Otty I did not mean to infer that they wouldn't do good in fast flow because they do. in nature the ones in some of the channels have to deal with the tides and that water can move really fast and mangroves seem to thrive there too. I just mean that they don't need fast flow to do well....