I have had good luck with both Amazon and eBay sellers. If you can specify only ones grown in SW, the last batch I received was around 24” with multiple leaves and they have done great.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Great new video on Mangroves from WWC, at the Godfather’s house where he discusses taking care of Mangroves and highlights his outdoor lagoon.
Julian has a ton of mangroves growing in his yard. I sorta assumed he started many of his in FW, then acclimated them to SW? I think Giga had his growing outside in FW as well, before he moved them to his SW tanks. However, it does seem to be something that many people struggle with, so it would be nice to have a definitive answer on how to acclimate FW grown mangroves to full salinity SW. Julian actually mentions being able to transition mangroves from FW to SW in his mangrove manual (pg 6):I have not seen anyone transition mangroves from fresh to salt successfully. I have not tried it myself. In the Book of Coral Propagation, Anthony Calfo says not to transition them (either direction), but I would guess that if you did it slowly enough (over weeks at least, probably months), it would be OK. And higher in this thread someone claims to have transitioned them, so Calfo's book may be showing its age.
Still, easier to just start them in salt to begin with, I would think.
They look to be exhibiting classic negative phototropism which is normally a result of inadequate lighting. How many watts is the lighting system above the mangroves if any? The window likely isn't enough by itself. Any signs of chlorosis? Hard to tell in pictures online.What kind of growth rate do you typically see with mangroves?
I have 6 mangroves that I have planted in a small ‘lagoon’ tank in my classroom. In a month and a half, I have not seen any growth or even change in the plants.
Tank water is @ 1.024sg, and keep it at ~78F. While the tank itself has only been running for 2 months, it was made using sand and live rock from other seasoned tanks (complete with detritus, worms, etc). The tank is near south facing windows, and on sunny days, I would say the mangroves get about 2.5-3.5 hrs of direct sunlight, and another 5 hours of decent indirect light. I spray the leaves down at least twice per week.
The system is sort of a modification of an under-gravel filter, designed that way solely to increase flow of nutrients over roots of mangroves and turtle grass. I will also be adding depth to the bed so that I can a) have some anaerobic NO3 reduction, and (hopefully) allow the CO2/carbonic acid to break down some of the aragonite and provide calcium and carbonate.
The idea is that this lagoon system will serve as the sole filtration for a reef that I will connect to it.
The leaves feel soft (one leaf on one plant is a little bit tough feeling), but those mangroves have not budged an inch. The bio-mass of the system is low, but I’ve been pumping nutrients up in hopes of getting stuff going. The turtle grass is growing a little. Really not much in the way of algae growth. I’m sure the nutrient level is probably on the low side.
Thoughts?
It’s hard to tell in the pics because it’s a cloudy day, but they get a minimum of 3 hours a day of direct sunlight. The rest of the time, it’s a lot of indirect light. If that’s not enough light to grow them, I’m not sure how people are growing them under reef lighting.They look to be exhibiting classic negative phototropism which is normally a result of inadequate lighting. How many watts is the lighting system above the mangroves if any? The window likely isn't enough by itself. Any signs of chlorosis? Hard to tell in pictures online.
Also the water level may be a little high for them you could try lowering the water level or raising the mangroves.
"
An experiment was done by Ellison and Farns-worth
( 1997) that included growing trees under
different water level conditions in a greenhouse to
see how sea level changes due to potential global
warming could affect the growth of R. mangle.
Trees were grown under current conditions, and
under a 16 cm decrease and a 16 cm increase in
sea level. The trees grown under current condi-tions
were larger. The other two were shorter and
narrower."
Slow growth rate is to be expected, they grow faster at root level and they still only average a mm of root growth a day in good culture conditions. Foliar growth often follows root growth with the plants growing slowly until well rooted. But the plants growing away from the window is an issue that should be addressed sooner rather than later.
I have successfully grown mangroves outside in freshwater and converted them to freshwater. I took about 4 weeks topping off the tank and doing 20 percent water changes with saltwater. Here is a picture of the tank and it has been running at a salinity of 34 ppt for since April. The mangroves were grown from pods which I collected. I also cut them back a few times to give them a fuller look when growing them outside in the freshwater.Julian has a ton of mangroves growing in his yard. I sorta assumed he started many of his in FW, then acclimated them to SW? I think Giga had his growing outside in FW as well, before he moved them to his SW tanks. However, it does seem to be something that many people struggle with, so it would be nice to have a definitive answer on how to acclimate FW grown mangroves to full salinity SW. Julian actually mentions being able to transition mangroves from FW to SW in his mangrove manual (pg 6):
"Mangroves can suffer "shock" when they are moved. This is manifest by wilting leaves or loss of leaves. When the leaves wilt or drop off in a moved plant, I place it in tap water and give it strong illumination. Usually the tree recovers within a few days. If the leaves have all dropped off, the top bud will usually open within 10 days if the tree is placed in tap water and given strong illumination. When adapting a mangrove from freshwater to saltwater it is important to make the transition slowly; otherwise the plant can suffer irreversible shock. First expose the plant to slightly brackish water and allow the water to become saltier over several days time. It is also important to be sure that the magnesium level of the saltwater is sufficient; see my earlier explanation re g a rding magnesium and its effect on salt tolerance."
I've been growing four out for about 10 months in FW, and I plan to document transitioning them to SW. I may try reaching out to Julian ahead of time to see if he has any more specific advice to give, and I'll likely take the transition fairly slowly.
I had seen that discussed before, so I was super careful to be really gentle with the roots.I think one of the issues that hobbyist have converting mangroves from freshwater to saltwater is when they transplant them you have to take great care not to damage the root system. If the roots get cracked or broken then the osmotic pressure the mangroves use to excrete salt water is damaged and the salt water gets into the root system and the tree.
Hello everyone.
Just had a question
I had purchased two mangrove shoots about 1 month and half ago. They are in my sump with a grow light right on top. So far nothing has grown except some roots. I don't have super high nutrients. It is a new tank about 3 months but it is pretty stable.
Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2ppm
Kh. 11
Phosphate as of today .06 was .25 ppm but I bought some gfo and reactor and trying to bring it to a lower stable number due to algae hair algae.
Calcium 420ppm
Magnesium 1290ppm
I also never had corraline algae read it is beneficial. I use rodi water.
So I wanted to know 1. Is there anything that I can do or am doing that could be slowing the growth again I have a small bulb grow light on it 18watss it's purple and violet color.
2. Should I worry about growing corraline algae to help me with nuisance algae.
I appreciate any experience and info. Thanks.