I betcha there aren't many people growing these in Kansas!
I betcha there aren't many people growing these in Kansas!
Red Mangroves growing in part of the filtration for my fish tank
I saw those at a LFS. I wondered what they were. Nice tank, how many gallons.
250 gallons
I've heard of mangrove trees, Tell me more.... Guess I don't understand how you are using them in the aquarium, they are growing in the aquarium, I don't see them? ..... do they grow outside? Where did you get them?
the idea behind using mangroves as part of the filtration for a marine aquarium is that the plants "soak up" excess nutrients and nitrates in the water.......elements that cause ugly brown and hairy algae blooms in the tank. I do not grow these trees in the tank itself, rather within the filtration in another room adjacent to the tank.
The trees are pretty cheap. The local fish stores sometimes carry them, but you can also get them cheaply through mail-order and the internet (ebay). I have tried to grow black and white mangroves as well, but the are much more sensitive than these red mangroves. The largest one I have grown under metal halides for about 2 years and it has only grown about 3 inches. They are notoriously slow growers, but are pretty cool looking none the less.
you slowly train them to grow the exposed roots by pulling them higher and higher out of the soil over time.
Very interesting! Thanks for the explanation, I'd never have figured it out. So the trees grow in the plastic tub and feed off the aquarium "water", that will be their "life"? I mean, you do not plant them outside in the summer?
I do not plant them outside in the summer......they do "feed" of the aquarium so they will always be inside. I have to take care to mist them down every couple of days as the excrete salt through their leaves and stem......and if you don't mist it off, the accumulated salt will hinder photosynthesis.
Amazing tank. I recently set up my own tank but it is only 55 gallons. Right now it has 30 pounds of live rock, a clean up crew , and a couple of fish. Do you have an RO unit? If so, which one do you have, how many gallons does it put out per day, how well does it work, and where did you get it.
Rylaff -
sent you a d-mail
Red Mangroves are the ones that like to grow in water----black like wet but not flooded areas----white mangroves prefer a "drier" environment; in other words near water but not in it at all. This is how they are in Florida and you can see this progression from water to land quite easily.