Mangroves

[adesimone1]

We started out running a sulfur denitrator when we had the 120 and then we decided to go with nothing in the 180 we always had nitrates then we decided to go all natural using mangroves.
We hadn't done a water change in over 10 days and anyone who has been to my house can tell you I don't starve my fish they are pigs that get fed 2 times a day.
Our nitrate level is very close to 0 and last week it was between 15 and 20. We also have been using gettankedaquarium salt this is our 2nd batch so between the 2 changes we have noticed a big difference in our tanks.
And I am a stickler on clean glass from front to back and I used to have to clean my glass every day now I can go 4 days and let me tell you with a barebottom tank it is labor intensive. And our water is crystal clear

 

[RichT]

I'm confused (which is easily done ) with the denitrator you were at 15 - 20 and without your at 0? If so, do you attribute that to the salt or the Mangroves?

 

[momof6kids]

Rich,

I could never imagine you confused.

But, I would also like to know....Do you attribute that to the salt or the Mangroves?

I have always battled nitrates and would like to know the answer to this one.

Erna

 

[RichT]

Rich,

I could never imagine you confused.

As I get older, it seems more prevalent.

 

[Hawkeye]

unlikely to be the mangroves. How many (mangrove) pods do you have?

Do you have a DSB for the pods? I may attribute a reduction in trates to the DSB depending on how big it is.

Are you running a bigger skimmer?

 

[adesimone1]

I'm confused (which is easily done ) with the denitrator you were at 15 - 20 and without your at 0? If so, do you attribute that to the salt or the Mangroves?

We weren't running anything on the 210 since we put the mangroves in and it lowered the nitrates to almost 0

 

[adesimone1]

Rich,

I could never imagine you confused.

But, I would also like to know....Do you attribute that to the salt or the Mangroves?

I have always battled nitrates and would like to know the answer to this one.

Erna

Oh definetly the mangroves

 

[adesimone1]

unlikely to be the mangroves. How many (mangrove) pods do you have?

Do you have a DSB for the pods?  I may attribute a reduction in trates to the DSB depending on how big it is.

Are you running a bigger skimmer?

We are running the same skimmer asm g3 it has been on all of our tanks we have almost 20 mangroves in our refugium.  We took a clear plastic fish catcher and drilled holes in it for water flow and it hangs on the back of our refugium so the plant is 1/2 way out of the water.

 

[Phyl]

Very cool. What lighting are they under?

 

[adesimone1]

Very cool. What lighting are they under?

In the frag tank it is under 10k t5 daylight bulb 15 plants

in the main tank under a pc fixture 20 plants

I rigged up a peice of egg crate in the refugium for the frag tank I just placed them in a whole of the egg crate so only the roots are in the water. It looks like house plants growng out of the 2 tanks

 

[gettankedaquariums]

Very cool. What lighting are they under?

In the frag tank it is under 10k t5 daylight bulb 15 plants

in the main tank under a pc fixture 20 plants

I rigged up a peice of egg crate in the refugium for the frag tank I just placed them in a whole of the egg crate so only the roots are in the water. It looks like house plants growng out of the 2 tanks

How many leaves are on each mangrove plant?

How long ago did you add them to your system/

 

[gettankedaquariums]

Anyone who has recently start using any type of mangrove plants, monitor your magnesium levels.
Mangrove plants can and will deplete your magnesium as well as potassium, just to name a few.
Mangrove plants are a great asset to part of a natural filtration system, remember everything has it’s pros and cons.

I personally started an experiment with red mangroves, black mangroves and white mangrove seedlings,(total of 500 seedlings and 8,000 lbs of sand on a 1,400 gallon central system, back in 10-01-05 and just starting to finish with the experiment.

I will later start a thread with my conclusion on my 2.5 years experiment on the effects of mangrove plants as a natural filtration for all aquariums.

 

[RichT]

I have 2 plants in my sump for 4 years with a LOA 65W Home Depot Special. I know it's not enough to do anything for the nitrates but it's cool to have them growing anyway. I plan on getting a whole bunch more at MACNA this year. Two Little Fishes sells them for like $1 or $2 per pod at the show. Where did you get yours and what did they cost?

 

[gettankedaquariums]

I have 2 plants in my sump for 4 years with a LOA 65W Home Depot Special. I know it's not enough to do anything for the nitrates but it's cool to have them growing anyway. I plan on getting a whole bunch more at MACNA this year. Two Little Fishes sells them for like $1 or $2 per pod at the show. Where did you get yours and what did they cost?

Purchased them from eBay.

Can you post some recent pictures of your mangrove plants?

I would like to see the growth of your 4 year old mangroves.

Thanks!

 

[RichT]

I actually meant to direct that post to adesimone1 but to answer your question, there was very little growth attributed to the cramped quarters (little headroom) and location of the light (to the side of the plants). My seemingly never materializing plan is to put a fishroom in the basement and give them room to grow along with several more. 

 

[gettankedaquariums]

I actually meant to direct that post to adesimone1 but to answer your question, there was very little growth attributed to the cramped quarters (little headroom) and location of the light (to the side of the plants). My seemingly never materializing plan is to put a fishroom in the basement and give them room to grow along with several more.

I knew where you were directing your mangrove question.

I just wanted to compare notes on other hobbyist long term mangrove experiences.

Thanks for your response.

 

[adesimone1]

Rich I will send you some pics of how mine are set up. We have only had ours in the tank for a few weeks. Now the set up to our main tank is only temporary. I finally talked my husband to plumbing everything in the basement, we are hoping our new pump is delivered today and we can start plumbing into our 100 gallon sump then we are using our prexisting oceanic sump as our refugium. And I appreciate everyone's concerns opinions but IMO all natural seems to be a better choice them chemical

 

[adesimone1]

unlikely to be the mangroves. How many (mangrove) pods do you have?

Do you have a DSB for the pods? I may attribute a reduction in trates to the DSB depending on how big it is.

Are you running a bigger skimmer?

we do not have dsb for the pods (bare root)

 

[adesimone1]

I actually meant to direct that post to adesimone1 but to answer your question, there was very little growth attributed to the cramped quarters (little headroom) and location of the light (to the side of the plants). My seemingly never materializing plan is to put a fishroom in the basement and give them room to grow along with several more.

Our refugium is set up as a display next to the main tank so it has plenty of headroom

This is the frag tank refugium

 

[JRWOHLER]

I know it has fake Mangroves but has anyone seen the corner tank at Jenkinsons? Or more to the point has anyone seen a real version of their fake one? I would like to do something like it at some point. For those have not been their it is I think a 50G corner tank with no top and the mangroves "growing" out the top. They have some cardinal fish swimming among the roots.