The ultimate Mangrove thread!!

[Soren]

Has anyone attempted a cover of any sort on a mangrove tank? Just lost a clown to jumping. It was the only fish in the tank, so nothing bullying it.

I would not call my current 75-gallon FOWLR a mangrove tank fully since the mangroves are barely established, but I do have a lid on the tank and plan to incorporate a similar design in my planned setup's mangrove lagoon.

I used nylon screen mesh and window screen frames to make a cover that fully covers the top from side to side, but only extends from the front to about 3" from the back. The gap in the back allows for equipment and mangroves to go through. Currently, this 3" gap is still uncovered in my tank, but I plan to use sheets of plastic with holes or slots to go around the equipment and mangroves on my new setup if I do not go the route of making ports in the screen for the mangroves (similar to feeding ports).

 

[pgravis]

I would not call my current 75-gallon FOWLR a mangrove tank fully since the mangroves are barely established, but I do have a lid on the tank and plan to incorporate a similar design in my planned setup's mangrove lagoon.

I used nylon screen mesh and window screen frames to make a cover that fully covers the top from side to side, but only extends from the front to about 3" from the back. The gap in the back allows for equipment and mangroves to go through. Currently, this 3" gap is still uncovered in my tank, but I plan to use sheets of plastic with holes or slots to go around the equipment and mangroves on my new setup if I do not go the route of making ports in the screen for the mangroves (similar to feeding ports).

I think I will attempt something similar, although my mangroves are more in the middle-right of the tank, so maybe have them come through a large feeding door type opening. I’m not sure how it will look, but it might be worth a shot (my 6 yr old daughter and wife don’t let me live down the dead fish they get attached too!). I worry it will alter the feel of the tank quite a bit though.
Would love to see some pics if anyone has done it.

 

[AC1211]

Has anyone attempted a cover of any sort on a mangrove tank? Just lost a clown to jumping. It was the only fish in the tank, so nothing bullying it.

Maybe diy cut mesh out around the mangrove?

 

[inland_reef]

Thanks for the reply the reason I ask is there was a pictures posted on a previous page that had the tank in the window, but a light below the leaves. Typically with plants you want the light on the leaves so I wasn't sure if these were somehow different. I assume this light was for the other Macro algae than.

This is my pico tank and the reason you don’t see any light on the mangroves was they were off when I took this picture. This was located on a windowsill of a south facing window so in the afternoon it would get really intense sunlight. I decided to run the par38 lights during the morning and let the sun do some work while also not cooking my mangrove leaves with too much heat in the afternoon.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Some more ideas for mangrove displays I did, some with different plants, but mangroves would be perfect in replacement:

Crazy how much the pachira aquatica looks like a mangrove!

 

[Eric R.]

I'm looking for information and recent updates/photos/videos of Julian Sprung's outdoor mangrove ponds. I've seen them mentioned in a few different threads and articles, but the only actual pictures and discussion of them that I can find from Julian is in this MACNA 2017 video:




I'm surprised there's not more info, considering I think this is such a cool idea!

 

[Utubereefer]

I was looking to try some of these mangroves. Algaebarn has em for a decent price but I’m curious about shipping. They do usps priority 2-3 days. Will the plants be ok in a shipping container for that long? Maybe I should wait for it to get warmer outside?

 

[Eric R.]

Red mangroves don't generally do well with temperatures below 60, though they have been known to survive temporary lower temperatures. I had some shipped to me from Florida to Vermont last month, unfortunately they took longer than I was expecting and ended up not being delivered until Monday, after being dropped off the previous Tuesday evening. The ebay shipper didn't do a great job of packaging them. I think at least 3-4 of the 5 survived shipping. They seem to just now be settling in a month later, but I'm not sure how unusual that is, this is my first bunch of mangroves. I've seen some new root growth, and some stem growth, in 3 or 4 of them. One completely lost it's growing stem and leaves in shipping, I think due to poor packaging, another had the growing tip turn brown and one of the two leaves was damaged. The other three seem to be better. I waited for a slightly warmer couple of days for shipping, temps were in the 20s to low 30s.

I would imagine that Algaebarn would package better, probably with a warming pad, and that they would arrive more quickly. I would think that unless temps are really low where you are, that as long as they didn't sit out in your mailbox or on your doorstep or get delayed in shipping that they would be okay. Be sure that you are home and waiting when they arrive and bring them in immediately. I would also check with Algaebarn to see the salinity that they have been getting grown in and be sure to match that, any adjustments should be made very gradually if possible. You can also see if they would offer a refund or credit for DOA.

 

[Rich Ard]

 

[Eric R.]

@Rich Ard, gorgeous mangrove! Also, beautiful tank! You should post some updated pictures in your build thread!

 

[Rich Ard]

@Rich Ard, gorgeous mangrove! Also, beautiful tank! You should post some updated pictures in your build thread!

thank you ereccer!

 

[Ichtha_yo Stuff]

I'm looking for information and recent updates/photos/videos of Julian Sprung's outdoor mangrove ponds. I've seen them mentioned in a few different threads and articles, but the only actual pictures and discussion of them that I can find from Julian is in this MACNA 2017 video:




I'm surprised there's not more info, considering I think this is such a cool idea!

 

[Smarkow]

So what is the secret to good mangrove lighting? Is that a silly question? I baked some under kessil refugium lights a while ago and never went back

 

[Eric R.]

So what is the secret to good mangrove lighting? Is that a silly question? I baked some under kessil refugium lights a while ago and never went back

It's not a silly question, unfortunately the care of these plants is very poorly documented over the long-term. I'm growing out three right now, and I'm planning to document the process as thoroughly as possible (I need to post an update actually..)

By, baking I'm assuming that you mean you browned out the leaves? I imagine this had more to do with the light being too close to the leaves than being too bright, and possibly the leaves getting too dry if they weren't being misted periodically. They thrive under full equatorial sunlight in their native environments, and seem to prefer very bright lighting in aquarium settings. I have mine under a 36w full spectrum LED grow light about 12" away from the leaves, and they are doing great, and I can adjust the light up as they grow. It's also possibly that your mangrove propagules, if they already had roots or leaves when you got them, were grown in full freshwater, and if they weren't properly acclimated to saltwater, that could have killed them. They also seem to do better with iron supplementation, and they need plenty of magnesium to thrive as well.

 

[Smarkow]

It's not a silly question, unfortunately the care of these plants is very poorly documented over the long-term. I'm growing out three right now, and I'm planning to document the process as thoroughly as possible (I need to post an update actually..)

By, baking I'm assuming that you mean you browned out the leaves? I imagine this had more to do with the light being too close to the leaves than being too bright, and possibly the leaves getting too dry if they weren't being misted periodically. They thrive under full equatorial sunlight in their native environments, and seem to prefer very bright lighting in aquarium settings. I have mine under a 36w full spectrum LED grow light about 12" away from the leaves, and they are doing great, and I can adjust the light up as they grow. It's also possibly that your mangrove propagules, if they already had roots or leaves when you got them, were grown in full freshwater, and if they weren't properly acclimated to saltwater, that could have killed them. They also seem to do better with iron supplementation, and they need plenty of magnesium to thrive as well.

Exactly as you describe. Got them as propagules and they sprouted, seemed to be doing great. But as they grew over a year they were reaching the light and I moved it up, but could not get it any higher... so leaves browned and eventually the trees just looked terrible. So moved them up to the display briefly, but they never recovered :/

Thanks for the tips tho!!

 

[Stalkin]

I've just floated 5 sprouted red mangrove propagules in 1.02 salt water, one on brackish, and one in fresh. The salt has a commercial grow light, 300w,the others are in the full sun outside. Dosing with house plant food, no animals to be harmed. Hoping to have the salt tank eventually for brine shrimp colony, the other 2 for a fresh water display tank. I hope to have some growth in a couple of weeks! This thread has been really helpful. Thanks.

 

[Clueless_Reefer]

Hi everyone! I had posted previously on a thread which I think died out but wanted to add some updates. I was growing a couple black mangroves under my Kessil H380 for a couple of years (left photo) in my old tank - they would grow but never flourished. One is still left and I've recently added two red propagules in the new setup and am looking for any advice ya'll can provide. I'm running A360X Tuna Blues on the full tank since even the lagoon zone will have coral in it and soon some clams... but I'm wondering if anyone can suggest programming changes to this zone?

Per the second image below, I've had the lagoon zone running on the same program as the rest of the tank. Its getting real sun from the window (which helps) but its ramp up starts at 11am and it runs full from 1300-1730 basically. From what I've read...I should add in some Green and Red spectrum for the mangroves to actually be happy...thoughts?

 

[Clueless_Reefer]

Is this thread dead? Just bumping to get some feedback on my lighting for the above post.

 

[AC1211]

Is this thread dead? Just bumping to get some feedback on my lighting for the above post.

I don't know enough to help. Anyone else want to chime in?

 

[TnFishwater98]

Put my first mangrove in yesterday