Mangrove filtration

[herefishyfishy]

I've recently been interested in mangrove filtration. Anyone have any positive or negative things to say about them. Anyone have one? Show pics!

Thanks.

 

[RamJet]

I have always wanted to try mangroves, but have not done it yet. I am planning on building a shark tank that includes mangrove filteration, but that will be down the road a bit. I have only read good things about them so far. If you do it, make sure you let me know how its going.

 

[herefishyfishy]

Ya, even though my tank has only been up for about 2.5 weeks, I have caught "the reef bug" and want to try all these new things Im hearing about. I now wanna upgrade to a 55 or 60 gallon main tank and customize my 20g into a sump w/ magroves!!

 

[RamJet]

I dont think that they will do well in a sump. Not enough light down there.
Oh, buy them on line. You can get them for $3.50 a stock. One of the pet shops I visit is getting $50.00 each for them.

 

[herefishyfishy]

-Do you think they'll ship okay?

-I would put plant lights in the sump ofcourse.

 

[Great Lakes]

I am working out the logistice for one.

You really can't have them in a sump because of the size they will achieve. And you have to be able to access them easy to clean the salt off the leaves periodicly.

I am trying to figure out just how to house thim in a large tank that can be on display for my wife as a tropical planting.

GL

 

[Adrinal]

I would love to have some as well. They grow VERY slow, from what I have read, so I figure pulling them out of the sump and aclimating them, may be a bit messy, but feasable. I have seen lots grow them out their HOB filter with a little egg crate.

This is NOT the same as growing cheto for nutrient export. I think it is more of a fun project than anything. They are not speed demons
once again, from what I have read.

 

[RamJet]

I had read that they are one of the best natural filters you can have. But I have to admit that that was coming from a mangrove farmer.

 

[ste2k3]

I had read that they are one of the best natural filters you can have. But I have to admit that that was coming from a mangrove farmer.

I wouldn't say that they were great filters at all and if you have them, its more for interest that for filtration. using plants/algae filtration uses nutrient export and uses nitrates, ammonia, nitrite, phosphate and a few more and yurns them into plant biomass. the quicker the more biomass is produced, the more they remove, this is why mangroves are not great for this purpose, calurpa is much better.

ste

 

[herefishyfishy]

I have read articles about people that have used mangroves and they said that their skimmers were not and did not need to work as hard as they were before they had mangroves.

 

[Landlocked]

I think that's true. The mangroves help filter the water, so the skimmer has to do less work.

If you wanted to do this, instead of having an over/under sump, you should probably consider having the sump lower than the tank, but off to one side, so that the mangroves have more room to grow.