mangroves?

[BigAl07]

Wow! I'm really LIKING this idea!

Frankie what is the red velvet around the base?

If you keep pruning the new leaves will it "harm" the mangrove?

[lcstorc]

Great mangrove Frankie. That is the first one I have seen that large in an aquarium setting. I have been told the same thing about the leaves. Apparently if you don't rain on them the salt suffocates them.

[Frankie]

The mangroves are not through the egg create. It just appears that way in the picture. They are in a fish breeding box filled with Mineral Mud. My refugium is BB.
The red velvet stuff is some morph of macro algae I have yet to ID. It only grows around the edge of that box. It looks cool and is getting bigger and spreading so i leave it alone. Any algae in the refugium is good algae imo.
Nope. I don't prune the leaves. If you look at the stalk you can see the stabilizing roots starting to grow out. They are the little white dots all over the stalk.

[BigAl07]

Fish Breeding Box? Got a pic or link of one? I'd like to do that too...

[Frankie]

Lee's Aquarium Net Breeder Box

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by Frankie

Lee's Aquarium Net Breeder Box

Thanks buddy. Hey the price is right *S*

So you have that stuck in your tank and filled with "Miracle Mudd" and the "Grove" stuck in that.. how COOL is that?

[Frankie]

Mineral Mud. There is a difference. Miracle Mud will work it's way out of the box in time. It's very powdery. Plus I have yet to see it cause a miracle

[BigAl07]

Oh yeah.. that's what I meant

thanks bro!!

[JoJo]

thanks for that insight.

[johnmaloney]

Planting them works much better, but you will need to trim the root ball eventually, so I grow them hydroponically in the water, it makes long term trimming easier. But if you do it Frankies way, then you don't have to worry about the roots harming your tank, a great idea Frankie. You should trim the roots more than the leaves, I get great results this way.

If you move them from salt to fresh, do it slowly, give them like 10 hours acclimation. Frankie is right about the plants too, when they have leaves it is hard to add them to your tank, they will do fine for like a month and then just kind of die off, better to get seeds, or newly sprouted seeds, they can handle differences better.

[elliottb]

I have had mine in my tank for maybe 2-3 months now and there is significant growth. I will try to remember to get a pic tomorrow. There are many new leaves and the roots are starting to grow quite a bit!

[Varga]

I've had mine for maybe 3 months. Each stock has developed 2 leaves but the root have grown alot! I have a 6500k bulb right above them. I spray them 2-3 times per day with fresh RO water. pretty sure they do almost nothing for the tank but it would be cool if they grow up and reach the ceiling. I'll post an update in 7 years

[Frankie]

Cool! Once you get a few more tiers they will help with nutrients a lot you will find.

[Varga]

I want a big one like yours Frankie, can I buy them that size or will they never acclimate?

[Frankie]

There is a place in Florida that sells them. Try Google. It's been a long time since i searched them out. Mine looked like yours not to long ago. Just keep misting them every day.