Mangroves are a small tree that is usually found in coastal marshes. These mangrove stands in saltwater marshes provide a number of very critical functions. First, they prevent coastal erosion by catching silt in water run off and holding it in place. They also shelter the coast during tropical storms and hurricanes that often are accompanied by high winds and tidal surges and waves. Second, they provide a method of cleansing the water of pollution and of nutrients that are contained in run off water that would otherwise over load adjacent reefs. Third, they provide a natural breeding ground and “nursery” for many Fish and Inverts species. Hence the incredible value of mangroves to the reef biotope.

There are 4 different varieties of Mangrove trees but the one most commonly available to aquarist are the Red Mangrove. This is the variety of mangrove best suited to full strength saltwater. These incredible trees are able to survive in the saltwater environment by using there extensive root system to up take dissolved nutrients in the water. These nutrients are removed from the water by the plant and the salt is excreted through the leaves. The frequent rains in the tropical areas where mangroves exist wash the salt from the leaves keeping the leaves pours from clogging and causing the plant to slowly die from salt poisoning the plant.

Mangroves are often used by aquarist in refugiums for the primary purpose of removing excess nutrients in the display tanks water much as they would in a natural saltwater marsh. Many reefers will just use two or three to assist and or compliment their existing filtration system and this is often just fine as there will be a number of benefits. Generally speaking, depending upon the source of information, you will need 1 Mangrove tree for every 10-20 gallons of tank system water for the best results in cleansing the water if this is going to be your primary means of water filtration. While the trees don’t get very large they do have a phenomenal root system that will boggle the mind in its immensity. As you can imagine this can take up a considerable amount of space. Unlike a potted plant that becomes root bound, and its roots will just over grow the pot and stunt the growth of the plant, mangrove root systems are quiet capable of breaking glass or acrylic refugiums rather easily if not afforded adequate room. As such it’s best to determine how many Mangrove trees you can provide space for and plant only that number. The reason for not starting off with a dozen in a 30L refugium and them yanking some as they grow is the fact that mangroves that are transplanted rarely recover from being transplanted. This is also the reason an aspiring aquarist should start with Mangrove Tubers, which is a cigar shaped seed pod that may or may not have a sprig of root and its fist pair of leaves, as opposed to a Mangrove tree that already has several pairs of leaves and a healthy root system. Mangroves are also very sensitive to salinity changes in the water, so mangroves that have been acclimated to one tank will usually fair poorly if at all when moved from one display to another. Keep this in mind when setting up your mangrove refugium. Another often over looked aspect of having mangroves in the refugium is that they will strip the magnesium from the water. It will be imperative that you test and supplement as needed to keep the required levels in your display.

If your still following along, then your probably still interested in how you can set up a Mangrove refugium like a lot of the Pro’s do….So lets get started!

First you will have to find an appropriate container for a Refugium. I have seen mangroves set up in something as cheap as a 5 gallon bucket that’s been plumbed to the display all the way up to extensive setups using 300 gallon Poly Cattle Troughs from Rubber Maid and everything imaginable in-between. All are workable ideas with proper planning.

After you have your container, you will have to decide how you want your Mangroves grown in the container you have chosen. At this point you’re probably scratching your head and mumbling “What…?”. Well you can plant your mangroves in substrate (with 1/3-1/2 of the tuber above water) as you might a traditional plant or you can secure them at the water line using Styrofoam most commonly and allow the roots to grow in the open water. Either way works and furthermore is effective! Personally I prefer to plant mine in a substrate. If you to would prefer this then you need to get some substrate next. You can use typical sand, crushed coral or you can go all out and “Go big or Stay home” and set up a “Mud” refugium. This is what I personally prefer but I have done it both ways and gotten excellent results. I do like the advantages of the “Mud Refugium” as it will contain a whole host of critters and bacteria not commonly found in “Live Sand” which adds more diversity in my opinion. Furthermore, there is a ton of fine particles of minerals that will slowly dissolve and add beneficial nutrients to your display over time at a much more rapid rate that crushed coral or aragonite. Again either will work very well and get the job done. You can buy your Mud from any number of sources on line and it generally runs about 5.00 per a pound depending on your location. This stuff works good too, just ensure that you’re getting it from a reputable source and ask for content analysis from the manufacture. You don’t want to get dirt from the pasture that’s being pawned off as the “real thing”. I personally prefer to buy Mud that is “Live” as opposed to dry so that I get additional varieties of bacteria and micro-fuana. As such I normally purchase my Mud from www.garf.org using a mix of GARF Grunge Lite and GARF Grunge, but there are a couple of other sources. Obviously one usually doesn’t have long arms and deep pockets and doesn’t have the funds available for 80 lbs of this stuff but you can buy several pounds and mix it with Oolitic Sand and accomplish the end result quiet nicely.

Next you will want to consider plumbing. For the best results in nutrient removal, you will want to cycle water through the refugium at a far slower pace than you would a sump. The standard flow rate through a sump is generally accepted to be 10 times turn over of the displays water capacity an hour. I.e.…if you have a 100 gallon tank then you want to move 1000 gph through the sump, right? Well on a refugium you generally want to shoot for about 30% of this. In the previous example that would be 300-350 gph. This slow rate of flow will allow enough contact time for macro-algae and your mangroves to do their “thing”. As such this will require that you put some serious thought into your plumbing arrangement on your displays filtration system.

Once your system is set up and installed, and working as advertised you’re now ready to add your mangroves. There are many sources for which to get your mangroves. But wait! DO NOT GO OUT AND “HARVEST” FROM THE WILD!!! Check with the local authorities first as these are normally “Protected” by laws. Ordering online is usually the path of least resistance. Many online dealers sell them. Some key things to consider and ask are what is the salinity of the water they are coming from! If they rattle off a number without missing a breath…I would suggest you find another source as they probably don’t really care and just want to move product. Remember what I said about them being very sensitive to sudden changes in salinity! I have used www.garf.org , www.coraldynamics.com, www.floridapets.com and Julian Sprung. All of these are of high quality and well cared for, packed and shipped. Be sure to order some extra as with the tubers some will not adjust and some will just die on you. Expect a 10-25% mortality rate, at least that’s what my experience has shown me over the years.

Now comes the issue of lighting. Ahhhh yes….lighting. Mangroves come from the tropics and are accustom to long sunny days, high humidity, frequent rain showers and lots of warm nights and sultry days. You too will need to provide all of these in order for your coveted mangroves to thrive in their new home. You will want lighting in the 5500-6500 Kelvin temp range. You can use Power Compacts, No’s, VHO’s, Halides and even incandescent bulbs from the garden shop. Yes they all work! The brighter the light the better they will grow. Do be careful when mounting your lights to ensure that they do not create excessive heat on plants close by as this is a certain killer for mangroves. It needs to be comfortably warm but not hot!!! If your can feel the heat coming off the light bulb…its too CLOSE! Move them up off your plants a bit. You will want to run your lights for about 12 hours and no more than 16 each day. I generally prefer, since I am such a tightwad with money, to use a cheap 2 x 40 watt NO fluorescent light fixture for lighting with 6500K plant bulbs installed. This works very nicely and is pretty budget contentious on most set ups. On large or extensive set ups halides such as HPS halides, you know…the ones Marijuana growers use in Grow-Ops, are a better choice and much cheaper than your typical aquarium style halides if your doing a 75-300 gallon poly tank or other large container

Now don’t get excited cause mangroves are v-e-r-y s-l-o-w growers. It can take a couple of week’s minimum for new leaves to appear and sometimes a month! As long as its not shriveling up and turning into something that resembles a piece of beef jerky its probably doing just fine. Don’t worry about it getting too large either. These can be trimmed back much like a Bonsai tree once there are a dozen sets of leaves on it and kept to a nice bushy 24 inch plant. Remember it’s the roots that are doing all of the work not the plant growth itself. I have some that are less than 18 inches in height and only have 8 leaves that are over 2 years old! But the root system from this joker will fill the better part of half a 5 gallon bucket!!! You should also mist them with RO/DI water at least every 2 days at a minimum. You have to wash the salt out of the leaves pores!

Now for some helpful but not necessary tips…Generally your plants will not need to get any fertilizer, so reframe from adding any. Most of it is toxic to your inverts anyways and the goal is to reduce nutrient levels not increase them! They will get adequate nutrients from your water and the dissolved organics in them. You may find that an occasional light dose of Iron or Magnesium to be helpful, but do test your water and use these judiciously if at all! Mangroves aren’t the best and most efficient nutrient export methods, they are another dimension however at your disposal. I find that I get my best results in water quality from using Macro-algae in conjunction with Mangroves. I prefer to use Red Gracilaria or Cheatomorph algae with my mangroves. This gives me maximum space utilization in my refugium, giving me the “mostest with the leastest” for the amount of space available. It also provides fresh algae for my herbivores and it creates one heck of an awesome nursery for copepods, Mysis Shrimp and I have even had my Peppermint and Skunk Cleaner Shrimp reproduce on numerous occasions and get off spring that survived to adulthood. I also like to add miniature Feather Dusters and Micro Stars too. This creates a phenomenal food source for your corals and your fish!

Well there you have it…the finer points of a Mangrove refugium…Good luck and Happy Reefin’!

wow, that's one hell of a write up. great work Ritsuko.:)

Phew glad I'm not a salty :unsure:

Thanks cich1, I appreciate the generous comments. Hopefully it will help any reefers out there and assist them, by providing helpful knowledge and advice. The best mistakes to learn from are the ones someone else has already made. Its a lot faster and less painful that way too!

But I got to give most of the credit to mango4jade for bringing the subject up. Without the inquiry it would have probably been months before I got the idea to write it......

Hopefully we can get more reefers in here and get more activity going on here and keep it interesting!

:wtf: that would take me forever to write. :jerry:

Only took a couple of coffees and a couple of hours including translating from Japanese to English with spell check really kicking my butt