Magnesium and Mangroves

[Goodair]

From doing some reading, mangroves need magnesium for them to thrive, ontop of the regular nutrients algae need. I don't have test kits for it so I cannot check my levels but was wondering if its something that needs to be supplimented and checked for or is routine water changes sufficient.

Reefcleaners is saying 1200-1300ppm for reference. I don't have any corals atm, but do plan on having a few softies in the future. There are 2 mangroves in my overflow for roughly 3 weeks, 3 out of the 9 leaves fell off during the first week, but stopped doing so when I pulled some chaeto out of the sump.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

How many are you wanting to get? With regular water changes you should be fine. I've successfully kept quite a few red mangroves in a tank that never had its water tested.

 

[Goodair]

I tried to see if town water report shows magnesium but it is rather vague in whats in the water. Iron seems to be enough.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

The mag would come from your salt mix, not the water itself

 

[xxkenny90xx]

What salt are you using?

 

[Goodair]

How many are you wanting to get? With regular water changes you should be fine. I've successfully kept quite a few red mangroves in a tank that never had its water tested.

2 mangroves, and researching into some other macros to do a macro tank. So far, going to have to add a t5 bulb to the canopy to support some macros and have to still look up nutrient reqs for some others, but so far magnesium, iron and calcium show up, if it needs supplementing or not is something to figure out! This forum will be helpful to getting a ballpark idea.

 

[Goodair]

What salt are you using?

The mag would come from your salt mix, not the water itself

That is a good point about the salt lol. Kinda overlooked that hah!

Red sea aquarium, gonna get the specs for you.

 

[Goodair]

Element Levels @ 35.5 PPT

• pH: 8.2 - 8.4
• Alkalinity: 7.8 - 8.2 DKH
• Calcium: 420 - 440 mg/l
• Magnesium: 1250 - 1310 mg/l
• Potassium: 380 - 400 mg/l

Looks like its enough to start, but how much will get used up, i dont know. Water changes have been a 30% month apart since its a light stocking. But it will end up being smaller more frequent as I finish finding and stocking the tank. 3/5 fish so far.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I'd say unless your keeping 20 or 30 mangroves they won't take up a noticeable amount of nutrients until they get really big. Fwiw I always kept mangroves under a cheap led bulb from home depot (I think it was 5000k 65 or 75w equivalent). Also, I'm no expert, just a big mangrove fan

 

[Goodair]

Nice, its awesome to not need high end lighting for macros. The extra t5 bulb along with my average leds might be overkill but with 2 feet of water to penetrate, its not that much of an expense to strap a single balast and a timer onto my canopy.
How long do you run your lights for and do you do a reverse timer with your DP?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Yup you'll be fine with that lighting. Mangroves are tough though since they'll grow right past your light (I haven't attempted pruning but it's definately an option). Ya mines on a reverse light schedule, can't remember how many hrs, maybe 18 on 6 off