I have definitely seem some others grow mangroves in their back chambers, but am yet to see an impressive tree while other DT mangroves I have seen literally near full trees. Also that is true, but when they start dying they release a lot of nutrients into the tank and can cause crashes.
In your eyes what do you think the probability of a mangrove dying in a 20g AIO sump is. I don't really know what causes mangroves to pass away and how to avoid it tbh ima start reading up on them a little more.
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Well honestly I can not say as it largely depends on having the correct setup. But if this helps, if you have the right lights and water params, plus daily misting, I think whether a mangrove is in a back chamber or DT it will do very well.
I actually heard this from a local high regarded seller in our area - Frost Corals. He was selling mangroves for a while. I asked to purchase one and he suggested I make sure the tank is setup for it. I asked why and we started talking about how if a mangrove dies it can release excess nutrients in the tank and cause massive param imbalance. Now this is just from hearing him - I have never had any personal experience with Mangroves nor have I heard this anywhere else I believe. But it has to be true to some sense. Ive had macros die or die off and it causes a nutrient spike. Even pulling some established macro out will cause a nutrient spike from my experience. And thank you for sharing! Checking it out now.Sharing my mangrove growth documentation thread here for anyone that wants to follow along. I've been growing 4 mangrove trees out in a 20 long freshwater tank for over a year, and plan to transition them to saltwater soon. I've also tried trimming the apical/growth stem.
Mangrove growth thread
Want to document and share the growth of my mangroves. I've been growing them out in a standard FW 20 long tank for just over a year now. I'm going to slowly transition that tank to full salinity (35 ppt) to make a macro/mangrove display tank in the next couple of months, just need to move out...
I am interested in reading where you got the figures of losing 50% in the last decade. Any link or point in the right direction would help.
It takes a very long time to achieve this look growing mangroves from propagules. A few years or more at least. You can try and see if you can find someone in your area that has a mature mangrove they may be willing to sell, but unless you live someplace like Florida where mangroves are native I think this is unlikely. Also, they are usually illegal to remove from their environment, so you'd need to find one that someone else has raised in a pot or something from a propagule. If you just want the look of the roots without having an actual live tree, you can get fake roots made from resin. Just don't put real dead wood in a reef tank, it will throw your parameters off. You can put real dead wood in a freshwater tank though, if you don't actually care about keeping saltwater fish and achieve a similar look.
True but one thing I have learned from this hobby is anything that dies with considerable size comparatively to the water volume causes param fluctuations. I am just keeping note of what this coral vendor said and trying my best to get the tank perfect before introducing the mangroves.
I guess what I am attempting to explain is the importance of the mechanism of the parameter fluctuations. With certain corals or macroalgae, death or disease can result in tissue, spores, or other biological material from the organism being released into or decaying into the water column, which can result in an imbalance in nutrient levels or other parameters. And it can happen somewhat rapidly compared to the slow degradation I've seen occur in mangroves.
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Great info! Thank you very much. Have you found the AI Prime is sufficient alone? If you see my build above I added another light because I thought it may be needed. The one thing I am confused about what you said is the styrofoam squares. So you mean keep the pod (sapling) floating on the styrofoam and the roots will eventually get big enough to reach the rocks/sand? I think I may skip this step out of fear of the mangrove tipping, or it taking so long to root.Here is a picture of my 10 gallon, UNS60 lagoon. I have 3 mangrove pods that are starting to root but have yet to show leaves. I'll be adding 2 more as soon as the weather gets nicer here (Boston, MA) and I'm not scared of the shipping. Let me try and give some insight to those asking how mangroves can die once introduced to a tank.The build for this tank can be found here.
When you add mangroves, you really should know where they are coming from so you're able to properly acclimate them to the salinity. By properly acclimate, I mean over the course of several weeks. I was lucky enough to purchase these three rooting pods from a supplier that grew them in water with the identical specific gravity I keep my tank at. Drip acclimating a tree will do nothing, you need to slowly increase or decrease the salinity of the water you're keeping them in until it matches that of the tank they'll be going in. You may think your mangroves are fine without doing this but the damage from being in hyper or hypotonic solutions may not show for up to two months in my personal experience.
Another fact people fail to realize is that mangroves are able to grow in saline conditions because they exude salt through their leaves (most species anyways). If you're going to maintain healthy mangroves be sure to spray down the leaves with RO water every once in a while!
For those asking about how to get roots like you see in mangrove groves there is a simple trick although it will take YEARS to work. Use some sort of float, I've used Styrofoam squares in past tanks, to support the pod so it is growing at the top of your tank in suspension and the roots will eventually grow down and, with time in patience, support the plant.
I hope this little bit of information helps anyone trying to keep mangroves! Stay tuned for my mangrove display coming with my new SPS tank upgrade later this year
Thank you!!
These pods haven't sprouted leaves yet, once they do I have supplemental lighting to go next to the AI.
