How to grow mangrove Q&A

[framerguy]

You never know Al. Mine took off too so it may be the time of year?? I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

 

[framerguy]

The mangroves that I had completely submerged started getting covered with coraline algae on the stalk and the leaves so I have removed most of them and put them in their own shallow tank, cleaned off the coraline algae from the leaves, and put their roots in the sand with the leaves above the water line.

In my observations, it seemed that the mangroves that were floating in styrofoam boats and had their leaves AND roots clipped "looked" the best. Their roots had lots of new white growth. The second best was with the roots clipped only, but not the leaves. The next were the floating ones that had not been altered in any way. Their roots had the least new growth. The mangroves that were submerged and planted in the substrate had good root growth but I don't think the leaves being covered in coraline could be a good thing. I have actually left two submerged just to continue the study.

 

[BigAl07]

Greg thanks for the "Study".


How much and HOW do you clip the roots?

 

[yungreefer2410]

yea i am also curious

 

[framerguy]

I clipped the roots with a pair of scissors at the last "significant offshoot" or little white root of substance. It seemed like that once I did that there were quite a few new hairlike white roots taking form all along the root.

The only leaves I clipped were on the second "clump" of leaves and I only clipped 1/4 of the leaf with scissors. If the plant only had one pair of leaves I left it alone. Not clipping the first pair of leaves was suggested by someone else but sounded like a good suggestion.

Hope that helps some.

 

[thincat]

Thank you Stephen, that was extremely helpful. I would like to build on this thread with more information on how to care for mangroves.

Things I know so far...
1) Mangrove leaves should be misted at least three time per week to keep the salt from building up on the leaves
2)Mangroves deplete magnesium so one must watch the magnesium levels closely and dose as necessary
3)Mangroves remove toxins and excess nutrients from the water but due to their slow growth, they are less efficient than seagrass and macro algaes.
4)Mangroves provide shelter and an anchor surface for beneficial organisms such as sponges, barnacles, crabs, shrimp, etc.
5)Care should be taken to ensure the structural integrity of the tank isn't compromised by the root system. Just how to do that I am not sure and hope someone can elaborate on this.

I will edit this list as I learn more, feel free to add to it yourself.

Hi Framerguy, #5...I group my mangroves into units of 5-6 and just let them hang in the sump. Once a week or so I just lift them and rotate. This will prevent them from rooting into the glass and prevents damage to the tank.

 

[framerguy]

Hi Framerguy, #5...I group my mangroves into units of 5-6 and just let them hang in the sump. Once a week or so I just lift them and rotate. This will prevent them from rooting into the glass and prevents damage to the tank.

Thanks a lot for that! Every tidbit helps. How are they "hanging", are they floating in a styrofoam boat, or are the literally hanging by a thread?

 

[ChiaReefer54]

Just wanted tp jump in the thread here. Very nice thread with lots of info. I see the last post is in Dec so hope it keeps going. I recently placed about five mangroves in my fuge so this is interesting me a lot. My fuge is fairly small so there's not a lot of room for experimentation. Right now I just have the plants suspended between two bubble barriers with some plastic screen. I'll try amd post some pics if anyone is still around and interested. Maybe can give me some pointers as well. I think this whole idea is so cool. I love the idea of keeping things as natural as possible.... Also if anyone is researching this, ReefCleaners.org is a good site to check out. I think it was mentioned earlier but thought it was worth repeating.....

 

[BigAl07]

ChiaReefer54 I'd be interested to see your pics

yes ReefCleaners.org is a GREAT resource for these and just about anything CuC related

 

[framerguy]

Yes, we are still here. Sorry for the long "no posty". Everything in mine is doing well. I am still using two 100w curly fluorescent bulbs and getting so so growth out of the trees. I have heard that MH is a must but I am finding that not to be the case. I do think they would do better under a little more light than I am providing and I am going to do that soon. Mine are all either buried in the sand now or floating (the ones that would not fit in the mangrove tank); the ones buried are doing best. They do not enjoy being submerged. That has been confirmed, and the ones that I had submerged but are now planted with their tops above water are not doing well still

Please post pics of what you have, what you are doing, lighting, etc etc. That's what this thread is about.

 

[ChiaReefer54]

Glad you're still here I'm kinda new to Reefing and the whole natural tank idea and the mangrove idea really intrigues me. So it was nice to find this thread. I had a fowlr tank years ago and just recently set up my tank with the intention of going fish and reef. I had a bio ball sump from before that I took the balls out of and did some reconfiguring so that's what you see here. The DT drains into a bin I added and comes into the fuge through a bulk head on the left. The mangroves are being held up by some chaeto and a plastic screen I placed between a bubble trap barrier. I read over at ReefCleaners somewhere that they like the chaeto and it works good for this. I was thinking of getting rid of that sponge you see on other side of the barrier but it's holding up the screen at the moment.... My light is a small PC with I believe 2 6700k bulbs and I keep it on about 14 hours opposite of my DT light. The two mangroves to the far side have some new growth from the top but I haven't noticed any new root growth yet. I've had these in here for about 10 days now, and obviously didn't start them from seeds or props as you did..... enjoy the pics and I look forward to any suggestions and keeping up with the thread...

 

[framerguy]

The plants look very green and healthy. That is interesting about the chaeto holding up the mangroves. It's a good idea. Thanks for posting your pics.

 

[ChiaReefer54]

well I had 2 of my mangroves wither up and dry out. Not sure what happened or what could've. Maybe the chaeto isn't such a good idea or maybe they just didn't make the transition into my setup. The other 2 with the new leaf growth seem to be doing well and the one with no leaves is hard to tell as it really has no new growth but still looks green.... will just have to see how the rest do.

 

[framerguy]

Did you make sure to match the salinity that they had been growing in? It's possible it was salinity shock.

 

[framerguy]

OK, I'll dust this off a bit. Nothing seriously new has happened. There were some plants in the tank that were still leafless. I had some still floating in styrofoam boats that had leaves, so I traded them out. I'll see if the floating has any affect on the leafless ones. Here is a today shot of the mangrove tank...

 

[curly-shuffle]

Hi,
Just a new guy with a mangrove question. I have one mangrove in my fug on a float. It has been there about one month and I give it a spray bath every morning with R/O water. It has several new roots that just started to grow. But it has no new growth on the top and it looks a little black right at the tip.
Is that good or bad? Thanks for the great info on this thread.

 

[yungreefer2410]

why would you trim the roots of your mangrove trees? to prevent them from taking over?

 

[seafansar]

Hi,
Just a new guy with a mangrove question. I have one mangrove in my fug on a float. It has been there about one month and I give it a spray bath every morning with R/O water. It has several new roots that just started to grow. But it has no new growth on the top and it looks a little black right at the tip.
Is that good or bad? Thanks for the great info on this thread.

I have some that did that. I collected them from the beach and I think the tips were a little burnt from being exposed to the sun for so long. The tips are finally starting to grow, but it's like the top half of the leaves have been cut off. So I don't think it's a good thing, but they should still grow.
*****
I have my mangroves in a tiny fuge. I have both red and white. The white grow much faster, but they are salt excreters (unlike red which are salt excluders) and I have to spray the salt off them constantly. Once they outgrow my fuge, they are going into a bigger mangrove tank.

Oh, I also found out that my cats like the taste of mangroves. I took out some of the white ones and put them in a bucket. Later that day I found them on the floor with most of the leaves eaten. Hope they're not bad for cats!

 

[curly-shuffle]

:winner: Thanks
Great thread

 

[framerguy]

man! How have I missed these posts? as long as you are getting new white root growth I think you are good. If the leaf itself is black then pull it off so no wasted plant energy goes into it. If the tip is black then leave it alone as long as you have root growth.

Youngun- I trim the roots to contain and keep the plant smaller. I trim the leaves to keep the plant shorter. These suckers get big if you don't take measures.

Sara, Curly, Youngun...welcome to the thread and please contribute where you can.