Neptune Aquatics

Mangrove Care!

Red Mangroves came in early! Excited to slowly start the acclimation process in the next few weeks. All came with couple leaves and roots and the stem is firm which is always a plus!

If anyone is interested, pm me! Purchased a couple extras in case others wanted some otherwise they gonna be a new tank project!
 

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Just got home with mine. Going to grow them out in my fw tank for awhile then acclimate them to salt and stick them out of the overflow box of my 25g lagoon.

I may end up getting another batch to grow out long term and see if I can make a mangrove aquascape biotope tank.

I'll be rigging up a light over them tomorrow.
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Current setup:
- 2 Gal Tank, only using about 1 gal of RODI FRESH Water
-20w Heater set at 77Degrees Fahrenheit
- Air Bubbles
- Random Bulb found laying around the house

I was curious if there was anything that I needed to monitor while in FRESHWATER! I might have missed it in the Julian Sprung article but I did not see anything regarding care while in freshwater other than your typical temp, bubbles and light. The plan is to keep it in freshwater for at least 2 weeks before slowly acclimating into saltwater over the next period of weeks. My plan is to hopefully have them in my tank by February.
 
What I learned from putting mangroves and in a frag tank:
- the roots need to be covered so algae and vermatids etc don’t grow on them, which chokes the roots. Rocks, sand, mud will do as long as other stuff is deprived the opportunity to grow on the roots.
- you DO need to wash the salt build up from leaves and stems with freshwater every few weeks. I sprayed mine down with RODI water

Also in general what I learned about reef lighting on terrestrial plants
- full spectrum is better - they’ll be somewhat growth stunted under more blue light
 
Chromis said:
What I learned from putting mangroves and in a frag tank:
- the roots need to be covered so algae and vermatids etc don’t grow on them, which chokes the roots. Rocks, sand, mud will do as long as other stuff is deprived the opportunity to grow on the roots.
- you DO need to wash the salt build up from leaves and stems with freshwater every few weeks. I sprayed mine down with RODI water

Also in general what I learned about reef lighting on terrestrial plants
- full spectrum is better - they’ll be somewhat growth stunted under more blue light
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Ty for the info and your experience!
 
Chromis said:
What I learned from putting mangroves and in a frag tank:
- the roots need to be covered so algae and vermatids etc don’t grow on them, which chokes the roots. Rocks, sand, mud will do as long as other stuff is deprived the opportunity to grow on the roots.
- you DO need to wash the salt build up from leaves and stems with freshwater every few weeks. I sprayed mine down with RODI water

Also in general what I learned about reef lighting on terrestrial plants
- full spectrum is better - they’ll be somewhat growth stunted under more blue light
Click to expand...
Great advice. I had good success with growing them in freshwater but poor success in saltwater. In freshwater, it' just like growing any terrestrial plant. Just good water and light is all you need.
 
Quick Update: Some of the mangrove leaves have since turned brown or scribbled up and fell off.

Was super worried and doing a bunch of research questioning where I went wrong and if there is any way to save the plant itself. What I came to conclusion is that it's normal for the leaves to fall off due to stress of being taken out of its environment and shipped. The key is having a solid root that is not mushy. Thankfully everything so far is very firm, will update all in a few weeks.
 
Hella_Salty650 said:
Quick Update: Some of the mangrove leaves have since turned brown or scribbled up and fell off.

Was super worried and doing a bunch of research questioning where I went wrong and if there is any way to save the plant itself. What I came to conclusion is that it's normal for the leaves to fall off due to stress of being taken out of its environment and shipped. The key is having a solid root that is not mushy. Thankfully everything so far is very firm, will update all in a few weeks.
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One of my 5 has stalk that is getting mushy and a 2nd one might be following suite. The other 3 seem fine but have the same browning/sheiveling up of some of the leaves. But I do see the new leafs from the center tip growing out so I'm hopeful these other 3 make it. I have it in freshwater with some soil(fluval stratum) from my fw planted tank with a heater and a small pump for water circulation.

I have a 150w par38 led bulb for lighting.
 

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That is a very nice set up... Im sure the soil definitely helps!

My setup is so ghetto compared to this. In terms of what type of bulb and placement, I have absolutely no clue. This is where the mangrove experts can chime in and help us out!
 
I have kept a lot of mangroves.
Mostly the problme with fresh or saltwater is moving them from one to the other. If you are going to keep them fresh get some that have been raised in fresh, salt salt.
They need more light than you think.
The roots don't need to be in substrate, they grow fine in rock or sand or nothing, but they really really don't like to be moved.
They can get a parasite, scale, that is easy to control if you wash them down with saltwater every few days.
 
Thales said:
I have kept a lot of mangroves.
Mostly the problme with fresh or saltwater is moving them from one to the other. If you are going to keep them fresh get some that have been raised in fresh, salt salt.
They need more light than you think.
The roots don't need to be in substrate, they grow fine in rock or sand or nothing, but they really really don't like to be moved.
They can get a parasite, scale, that is easy to control if you wash them down with saltwater every few days.
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Thanks for the feedback, Raised in fresh and is in fresh water! Light might be lacking so I'll find a way to adjust positioning. Thank you
 
Just a dumb question for those who have raised them-don’t they get really big? Or have they remained small. I heard the roots can get heavy and smash the glass.

Also to @Thales -what about brackish??
Some acclimation in fresh and then slowing raise up to 1.005-1.1010.
 
L/B Block said:
Just a dumb question for those who have raised them-don’t they get really big? Or have they remained small. I heard the roots can get heavy and smash the glass.

Also to @Thales -what about brackish??
Some acclimation in fresh and then slowing raise up to 1.005-1.1010.
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They do get huge… if you are able to keep that long. I’m sure it’ll be many years before running into that issue so it's one of those deal with it when it comes.

Can do brackish! In the wild, many are in brackish waters!
 
Hella_Salty650 said:
They do get huge… if you are able to keep that long. I’m sure it’ll be many years before running into that issue so it's one of those deal with it when it comes.

Can do brackish! In the wild, many are in brackish waters!
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Still-not sure the day comes when you hear that crack of an aquarium!
 
01/04/2023 Mangrove Update:
Most of the mangroves are doing well! Leaves have since stopped browning / dying. I'm not completely sure if this is what solved it but since I have started spraying the leaves, they have done significantly better.

My acclimation process was once a week when I change water from my Display tank (IM 14g), Top off the mangrove tank with the 2 cups dirty water full of nutrients and slowly bring up the salt weekly. I check each stem of the mangrove whenever I remember to make sure it is still firm squeezing it. One mistake I found was that 2 of the mangroves were starting to crack and become soft and mushy and after checking salinity it was at 34ppt. I topped off with 6 cups of RO water and left it for a few days and now the cracking is going away while becoming more firm. All other plants are thriving and actually starting to grow roots. I probably will skip out on raising the salinity this week to make sure all the mangroves are ready to go.

This is definitely user error since I probably only checked the salinity 3 times total since the starting this project. Not to worry, I am in no rush to add into my tank plus I don't mind a slower acclimation into saltwater. The end goal remains the same to hopefully start getting them in by Feb 2023. It's been exciting journey learning to care for mangroves.

The best part was:
- early struggles of seeing them die
- being able to stop the die off
- Roots starting to grow

Right now, they are in 24ppt so I'm getting close to target 35ppt!




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Update: Consolidated Mangrove Project and placed most of them into the 50gal.

They acclimated well to salt and was able to get the roots growing well. Need to somehow get my hands on a 3d printed Mangrove holder for the 50gal if that is even possible.
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Hella_Salty650 said:
Update: Consolidated Mangrove Project and placed most of them into the 50gal.

They acclimated well to salt and was able to get the roots growing well. Need to somehow get my hands on a 3d printed Mangrove holder for the 50gal if that is even possible.
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I didn't know they needed to be acclimated. I threw mine in the day I got them. Mine have been doing great for two months now.
 
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