Mangroves: Would you like a tree in your tank?

[bladeshadow]

I don't have one in my saltwater tank, as I didn't want to have to keep cleaning salt off the leaves, but do have one in my freshwater tank and then one in a tank with just soil in it.

I have a little forest in a pot plumbed to my reef tank. Started with propogules July 2019 (3 years 4 months ago)

Never once sprayed the leaves off, from what I’ve read it’s not needed for the red mangrove tree. A TikTok video tour of it I put together just now for this discussion: Love my mangrove soooo much!

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[clownfishlord18]

Let's get him a tank!

Some thing like this is my idea

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

I have a little forest in a pot plumbed to my reef tank. Started with propogules July 2019 (3 years 4 months ago)

Never once sprayed the leaves off, from what I’ve read it’s not needed for the red mangrove tree. A TikTok video tour of it I put together just now for this discussion: Love my mangrove soooo much!

TikTok - Make Your Day

Good to hear, I never tried as I had ready you had to spray th leaves.

 

[thermoJoe]

These red mangroves, started from propagules, have been growing in this tank for more than 11 years now. The roots occupy all of the substrate, which is silica sand from an older version of the tank before it got converted to a reef tank around the same time. The whole thing really needs to be taken down and restared, but I have yet to get around to that. I would likely remove the mangroves from the tank, but try to put them into something else...maybe.

There tears there

These red mangroves, started from propagules, have been growing in this tank for more than 11 years now. The roots occupy all of the substrate, which is silica sand from an older version of the tank before it got converted to a reef tank around the same time. The whole thing really needs to be taken down and restared, but I have yet to get around to that. I would likely remove the mangroves from the tank, but try to put them into something else...maybe.

That's a good three-tiered light sandwich there! Good job!

 

[Salty_Taste]

Questions:
- How to acclimate from fresh water to saltwater?
- Specific depth of Sand needed to root? I have rocks
- Any specific nutrient level to watch out for? (Magnesium, phosphate, etc)

Always wanted one.. Hopefully with community help, we can make that happen

 

[bladeshadow]

Questions:
- How to acclimate from fresh water to saltwater?
- Specific depth of Sand needed to root? I have rocks
- Any specific nutrient level to watch out for? (Magnesium, phosphate, etc)

Always wanted one.. Hopefully with community help, we can make that happen

Fresh to salt… very slowly.. like add .002 sg per week. Best to start with no leaf prop, then you shouldn’t have to acclimate.

None… but I do believe strongly that the deeper the bed the faster and better the growth of the tree. Mine are in around a 20 inch depth sand bed. They’ve filled the sand in with roots, dropped additional prop roots down into the sand and even have ground roots popping back up from the sand bed.
Im pretty sure my trees are sucking up a good bit of magnesium. I dose twice as much magnesium as I do calcium every week, and my mangrove is the only explanation I can come up with. Phosphates do great, hang around .05ppm with no skimming and weekly 8% water changes. Nitrates, on the other hand, seem to get sucked up by either the trees or the sand bed or both. I actually dose nitrate once a month or so to get it up to 5ppm. It’s back to below detectable values in a day. The tree gets a boost though.

 

[Salty_Taste]

Fresh to salt… very slowly.. like add .002 sg per week. Best to start with no leaf prop, then you shouldn’t have to acclimate.

None… but I do believe strongly that the deeper the bed the faster and better the growth of the tree. Mine are in around a 20 inch depth sand bed. They’ve filled the sand in with roots, dropped additional prop roots down into the sand and even have ground roots popping back up from the sand bed.
Im pretty sure my trees are sucking up a good bit of magnesium. I dose twice as much magnesium as I do calcium every week, and my mangrove is the only explanation I can come up with. Phosphates do great, hang around .05ppm with no skimming and weekly 8% water changes. Nitrates, on the other hand, seem to get sucked up by either the trees or the sand bed or both. I actually dose nitrate once a month or so to get it up to 5ppm. It’s back to below detectable values in a day. The tree gets a boost though.

Thanks for sharing! Haven't been able to answer these online so I appreciate that. When you say no leaf prop, you're talking about picking one up that has not created the bud and leaf on top?

Very new to this and just trying to understand

 

[bladeshadow]

Thanks for sharing! Haven't been able to answer these online so I appreciate that. When you say no leaf prop, you're talking about picking one up that has not created the bud and leaf on top?

Very new to this and just trying to understand

Exactly. No buds or leafs on top.

 

[Terry Le]

I want to make a 100 gallon frag/lagoon but I am a kid and can not afford that tank my idea is to make a volcano shape and have mangrove coming out the water.

Great idea hope one day in the future you idea will come true

 

[Terry Le]

Any one got a tank for free

I gave away a 150 and a 180 gallons last summer

 

[Gato 1]

i do keep a mangrove!

Nice looking aquarium

 

[Scott's reef]

I've had mangroves in my sump, actually 24 of them. It's just my opinion but I didn't see anything great that would actually want to waste my time or money on again. I think they're best where they belong, outdoors!!

 

[clownfishlord18]

I gave away a 150 and a 180 gallons last summer

Awesome how do I sign up.

 

[Moomee]

Fresh to salt… very slowly.. like add .002 sg per week. Best to start with no leaf prop, then you shouldn’t have to acclimate.

None… but I do believe strongly that the deeper the bed the faster and better the growth of the tree. Mine are in around a 20 inch depth sand bed. They’ve filled the sand in with roots, dropped additional prop roots down into the sand and even have ground roots popping back up from the sand bed.
Im pretty sure my trees are sucking up a good bit of magnesium. I dose twice as much magnesium as I do calcium every week, and my mangrove is the only explanation I can come up with. Phosphates do great, hang around .05ppm with no skimming and weekly 8% water changes. Nitrates, on the other hand, seem to get sucked up by either the trees or the sand bed or both. I actually dose nitrate once a month or so to get it up to 5ppm. It’s back to below detectable values in a day. The tree gets a boost though.

This is great information. I'm thinking about buying a large Lagoon style tank and was pondering the idea of putting mangroves in it. In lieu of deep sand, I am thinking about some type of clear plastic container to plant the mangroves in, surround by rock to hide it. Haven't seen anyone attempt this in a display.

 

[Rovert]

So far as I know, Mangroves populate the interstitial (brackish) areas between fresh and salt water along coastlines. Corals mostly live in open water. To the best of my knowledge, you'll never see mangrove trees growing in the middle of a reef.

That said, I don't think we could dispute the biological benefit they offer, but sticking a tree in the middle of an SPS tank just doesn't look right to me.

 

[Timfish]

Been there, still doing it.

 

[dennis romano]

Many years ago, a friend of mine brought back a few pods from Florida. He built his own 3'x3'x3' tank and built his own filter. Decorations were some large coral rocks that he got from a local plant nursery and dolomite. Above the tank, he hung a massive grow light then added fish. He threw in wild type mollies, some monos, archers and a scat. It was way cool watching the fish swim in the root system. Sadly, the tank died when he died.

 

[cmor1701d]

I had a mangrove in the sump of my 125 about 10 years ago. The fuge was lit by a cheap 60w incandescent iirc, in a standard grow hood

 

[fish farmer]

I played around with an island paludarium for a few years. My mangroves grew slow, I snipped and wired them heavily. I tried containing them in a 65 gallon tank.

If I didn't have cats I would consider a potted mangrove in some type of rocky tide pool, maybe fresh, maybe salt that I could bonsai and eventually place in a shallow tank.

If I was to do a different reef than I have now, I would have a mangrove island inspired by the many wonderful photos of from Raja Ampat which has various coral types growing right alongside the trees.

 

[Moomee]

Been there, still doing it.

Do you have a build thread? I’d love to see how this is built around the mangrove.