Mangrove

[Power Blue]

Discovered there are mangrove available in some LFS, is main to take up nitrate. Just wondering have anyone try. and how effective is `man'?

[Cookiemunster]

Mangrove is about the nicest looking 'algae' in the refugium. But because its a plant and not an algae, it grows very much slower. And in order for it to really grow well, as a plant it needs nothing less than a 150W MH.

If you use anything less than MH for mangrove, you'll find it very very slow growing up to the point where it uses up all its nutrients in its seed sag then eventually die.

Stick to using algae in the refugium unless you have an open air tank exposed to the sun.

[trevally]

Powderblue,

Can PM me which LFS sell mangrove?

Thanks

[Matt06]

You guys are really crazy, you must as well move to temperate country?

In Asia or Singapore, we can get MANGROVE almost everywhere, all you need to do is pay a visit to any of the local beach, especially those tidal river at Pasir Ris or Changi, Seng Kang has two river for MANGROVE collection as well, so does Punggol Beach.

If you want to spend money buying MANGROVE, you might like to consider those Micro-algae...

[Power Blue]

Thank Cookiemunster & Matt06,

Thank for the advised, but any of you try that? What is the success rate and how effective ?

[Wei]

Mangrove is a nice addition to reef/seahorse tank. It takes up nitrate but slow.

U dun need MH to grow them well. T5 will do. WaterC...le sell them. All are doing very well under T5.

Matt06 is right that we can easily get mangroves. But how many would actually go dwn the muddy site to collect.

Wei

[eaquarist]

Hi there Power Blue, looks like you have caught the "back to nature" wind started by Leng Sy for the mud refugium...great to know that hobbyists are concerned about the usefulness of nature's cleaners, the red mangroves. I stay in Pasir Ris and if you need seedlings and hate to get wet, go into the nature walk near the resort and you can pick them from the sides of the board walk...mangroves can be effective removers of excess nitrates and should work well...want more info, go read up the March issue of Aquarium Fish Magazine at Kinokuniya...got a good article on Mangroves, apparently, they use them in freshwater tanks too in US.

[Tanzy]

Tried mangrove many years ago. Doesn't make a dent on the nitrates. I was growing 10 seedlings in the sump on a floating piece of styrofoam. Someone figured out in RC or RDO that the recommended number of seedling is 1/gallon or something like that.

[KingFish]

Why don't someone try a mangrove sapling in a 1 gallon tub of used water, benchmark the NO3, leave it in the sun (protected from any rain contaminants) ... and test it after a week or so?

That way we can at least get some closure ...

[tigershark]

1 gallon per gallon??!! morgan have to opens up a mangrove farm already....

[Morgan]

1 gallon per gallon??!! morgan have to opens up a mangrove farm already....

What mangrove farm

I only have 8 small sapling. They grow very slowly once the nutrient in the seed pods runs out. As for a good source of nitrate export...think that it is still subjective since they grow very slowly. IF you are looking at a tree then it is a different matter

Anyway IME they will survive and grow better if provided with lot of light like lighting up a sps tank. Look at the areas where they are found......direct sunlight for hours and hours.......don't know how well it will do under FL.

[Tanzy]

Why don't someone try a mangrove sapling in a 1 gallon tub of used water, benchmark the NO3, leave it in the sun (protected from any rain contaminants) ... and test it after a week or so?

That way we can at least get some closure ...

Not a good way because for the first month or so the plant will use the nutrients in the seed pod. Macroalgae increase in mass much faster than mangrove.

[Morgan]

Not a good way because for the first month or so the plant will use the nutrients in the seed pod.

More like for the first 5~6 months

[KingFish]

There we go ... even if there is a decent uptake, the grow space and uptake ratio does not work out to be within reasonable range.

Point is, the absorbed nutrient (NO3, PO4, etc) should go somewhere, preferably into building mass.

So any macroalgae which grows at a fast rate should be a good media for nutrient export.

Something that does not crash easily is a good consideration, lest you release everything back into the water.

[Morgan]

Here is a pic of my mangrove "farm"

They are growing under direct sunlight.

[Matt06]

I am growing it in my refugium tank as well, together with my sea horse.. Can't really "bench-mark" the performance, while having many many Sea Lettuce as well as some other micro-algae, now both PO4 as well as NO3 are all under control. corals are very happy as well.

Just another point to save $$$, you might like to collect seawater in costal area especially along east coast beach as well. This is especially good during high-tide where "fresh" seawater comes by... Those seawater that you purchased are all from around Singaopre. So there is no much adifference... If you can DIY, why not?