Lighting for Mangroves ?

[mcarroll]

Wow – nice start!!!

You might do a soil (or water?) test on the source system where it's been growing and (if possible) consider those your target levels for the new tank as well.

I think using the mangrove section/tank/sump as a permanent detritus settling area might be a smart idea.

People are phobic of detritus like all nutrient related things, but from what I've read it's 100% good to have in an otherwise healthy system....a source of both phosphates and alkalinity to help stabilize the overall supply of them, believe it or not. It's also food for a significant portion of the microbial food web in the tank. At least with it in the mangrove section it could be out of sight.

Just thoughts.

 

[randyBRS]

<<< Mangrove fan here!

A bit of a poor photo, but these groves were started as two leaf seedlings in my office lagoon about a year ago. They grow under a Kessil A360 on nearly the whitest spectrum setting...oh, and about 13hrs of overhead office lighting.

-Randy

 

[ewelch]

<<< Mangrove fan here!

A bit of a poor photo, but these groves were started as two leaf seedlings in my office lagoon about a year ago. They grow under a Kessil A360 on nearly the whitest spectrum setting...oh, and about 13hrs of overhead office lighting.

-Randy

Looks great Randy !

Quick question , are your Mangroves rooted in substrate ? If so what is it?

 

[1Clown]

<<< Mangrove fan here!

A bit of a poor photo, but these groves were started as two leaf seedlings in my office lagoon about a year ago. They grow under a Kessil A360 on nearly the whitest spectrum setting...oh, and about 13hrs of overhead office lighting.

-Randy

Absolutely incredible growth in such a short period. Can you tell me what you Kessil settings are and how many hours they're on for and how many inches from the top of the mangroves, thanks.

 

[randyBRS]

Absolutely incredible growth in such a short period. Can you tell me what you Kessil settings are and how many hours they're on for and how many inches from the top of the mangroves, thanks.

There's really no secret formula here. I just have the Kessil A360s on the "whitest" color setting for about 10hrs/day. They are mounted high enough to give the mangroves room to grow and so that the light covers all of them. (Granted there is a ton of light spilling over the tank, but it doesn't bother me.)

 

[1Clown]

There's really no secret formula here. I just have the Kessil A360s on the "whitest" color setting for about 10hrs/day. They are mounted high enough to give the mangroves room to grow and so that the light covers all of them. (Granted there is a ton of light spilling over the tank, but it doesn't bother me.)

100% intensity too?

 

[randyBRS]

100% intensity too?

Yup.

 

[1Clown]

Yup.

I appreciate the responses thank you, also just noticed who you are after looking at your avatar

 

[gotmesalty77]

I was thinking of starting a hallway 10g cube mangrove focused @randyBRS I was looking at the kessil h160 tuna sun. Would that be enough light in the beginning to help it thrive? Or should I go bigger?

 

[randyBRS]

I was thinking of starting a hallway 10g cube mangrove focused @randyBRS I was looking at the kessil h160 tuna sun. Would that be enough light in the beginning to help it thrive? Or should I go bigger?

I would certainly think so. I consider my mangroves like any other house plant, in that they can do just fine with ambient sunlight yet will likely do better if you had a direct light source or direct sunlight. I almost any light you throw over them will benefit to some degree.

Honestly, the only reason I used the Kessil A360 Blue was because we had several of them laying around and I wanted some coral in my lagoon at the time. Now I just keep three main mangroves in a 6gal cube on my desk with the same lighting.

 

[User]

Any truth to the statement that mangroves rekease things like phenols that are detrimental to SPS?

I was planning to add a few to my grow out lowboy50 to make my fishroom a little less sterile , so i want to make sure im not limiting myself in future. It will be plumbed into my main system

Tjanks

 

[Clueless_Reefer]

Honestly, the only reason I used the Kessil A360 Blue was because we had several of them laying around and I wanted some coral in my lagoon at the time.

Directed to Randy - do you think a Tuna Sun 360 would do the trick a little better if you were to swap it out? Referencing this blog post, Julian is running one of the 360's on his display tanks... https://reefbuilders.com/2019/09/20...pt-focused-aquarium-from-two-little-fishies/#

Hi everyone - I'm hoping this topic isn't dead yet as I was hoping to share my experience and also get some feedback. Please see below for results of growing two black mangroves for about 1.5 years from seedlings I found on the beach locally. I run a Kessil H380 for my chaeto ball since 2018 and as you can see in the photos, the plants ARE growing but some may say they are not thriving - hard to say, I really don't know how fast these little guys grow. They have roots which go into Marinepure balls and receive lots of flow. So, you can use an aquaculture light and grow them (they run on the reverse schedule to my main system), all of you can be the judge as if you think they are happy or just "living".

I'm planning on a new system right now with the full intent to have a secondary, attached mangrove tank which I was hoping to bring these little guys out into the sun and run a 360 on them. It would be more of a lagoon-style with a rock in center for the mangroves to grow on (like they do in the waterways in South Florida) and then to have a bunch of clams around it with pipe fish, etc. Reference the third attached photo below for visual. I am a little concerned about the "browning" of the water although would some think the clam population may just eat up the chemicals? I purposely only clean my filter socks once per week and run the system nutrient rich in its present state.

 

[SauceyReef]

Bumping this up! I am also making a forum asking about this - what light is best.. It seems to be a general consensus that intense white light with higher greens/reds is the way to go. I was thinking of just getting an AI Prime 16 HD and rigging the settings for this. Just wondering how corals will fare..

OP - how did your mangrove system work out?

@randyBRS - are your mangroves attached to anything? Sand, rock? Is the tank still going?