brackish mangrove tank

sploke · 08-12-2006, 08:20 AM

Finally got fish into my backish tank, and got some pictures. So far I have 5 mollies and a bunch of fry that just popped out, a violet goby, and 2 fiddler crabs. I still want to get a mudskipper, thats what the dock is for, and a nice group of bumblebee gobies. The goby was an accidental addition, he showed up at the lfs and they had no idea what it was or how it got on the purchase order, so I bought it and took it home. The mangroves are doing pretty well, about half of them survived the move into brackish, and the ones that did look pretty good. The java fern and java moss are also doing well.

reiverix · 08-12-2006, 08:38 AM

Hey that's pretty cool. What SG are you running at and how much light are you putting out?

On my tank I'm at an SG of 1.004 and my bacopa caroliana is growing like the gangbusters. It's the most brackish tolerant plant I've yet tried.

sploke · 08-12-2006, 11:25 AM

I started at about 1.004, because everything I added was being kept in freshwater. I've been letting the water evaporate, its up to about 1.010 now, and I think I'm going to try and keep it in that range. There's no light over the tank, the only light is ambient light. There's a picture window to the left and another window to the right. I wanted to leave the top open to let the mangroves grow up.

reiverix · 08-12-2006, 02:49 PM

Well I'll be interested to see how this develops. I've not heard of any FW plants survive at such a high SG. The mangroves will be fine although I've read they need quite high light to get into gear. Hopefully the ambient light will be enough. Good luck.

sploke · 08-12-2006, 06:40 PM

Well the tank's only been stocked for a few weeks, so we'll have to wait and see how it goes.

blackwolfXKAV · 02-14-2007, 02:13 PM

The mangroves that you have in there are red mangroves. They will need to be in more saline conditons, and, though i cannot tell by the pic, it looks like they are completely submerged, which is harmful to them.

The reason why they might be yellowing is called "salt shock", when the plants do not recieve enough magnesium compounds to regulate their sodium excretion processes.

If you want to get the great prop roots going, I would suggest gently trying the mangrove to a wooden dowel and moving it up out of the water so that a thrid of the stem is exposed. Then, when the roots, which would at this point be out of substrate, will gradually grow longer porps like you see in the wild. By increasing the heigh of the plant relative to the water level over a month at a time, you can achieve a great root stucture. Also, these plants do not take kindly to being trimmed, so I would adivise that you wait for at least one year before trimming, and eventhen, trim when absoulutely necessary.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1045871

Enjoy the reading, and check out al the links!

hope this helps.

Black.

08-12-2006, 08:20 AM	#1 (permalink)
sploke ladies love country boys Join Date: May 2006 Location: Eastern CT Posts: 390	brackish mangrove tank Finally got fish into my backish tank, and got some pictures. So far I have 5 mollies and a bunch of fry that just popped out, a violet goby, and 2 fiddler crabs. I still want to get a mudskipper, thats what the dock is for, and a nice group of bumblebee gobies. The goby was an accidental addition, he showed up at the lfs and they had no idea what it was or how it got on the purchase order, so I bought it and took it home. The mangroves are doing pretty well, about half of them survived the move into brackish, and the ones that did look pretty good. The java fern and java moss are also doing well. __________________ Current project "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

08-12-2006, 08:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
reiverix Ach Join Date: May 2006 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 1,764	Hey that's pretty cool. What SG are you running at and how much light are you putting out? On my tank I'm at an SG of 1.004 and my bacopa caroliana is growing like the gangbusters. It's the most brackish tolerant plant I've yet tried. __________________ John R Puffer Forum

08-12-2006, 11:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
sploke ladies love country boys Join Date: May 2006 Location: Eastern CT Posts: 390	I started at about 1.004, because everything I added was being kept in freshwater. I've been letting the water evaporate, its up to about 1.010 now, and I think I'm going to try and keep it in that range. There's no light over the tank, the only light is ambient light. There's a picture window to the left and another window to the right. I wanted to leave the top open to let the mangroves grow up. __________________ Current project "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

08-12-2006, 02:49 PM	#4 (permalink)
reiverix Ach Join Date: May 2006 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 1,764	Well I'll be interested to see how this develops. I've not heard of any FW plants survive at such a high SG. The mangroves will be fine although I've read they need quite high light to get into gear. Hopefully the ambient light will be enough. Good luck. __________________ John R Puffer Forum

08-12-2006, 06:40 PM	#5 (permalink)
sploke ladies love country boys Join Date: May 2006 Location: Eastern CT Posts: 390	Well the tank's only been stocked for a few weeks, so we'll have to wait and see how it goes. __________________ Current project "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

02-14-2007, 02:13 PM	#6 (permalink)
blackwolfXKAV You're kidding? Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 183	The mangroves that you have in there are red mangroves. They will need to be in more saline conditons, and, though i cannot tell by the pic, it looks like they are completely submerged, which is harmful to them. The reason why they might be yellowing is called "salt shock", when the plants do not recieve enough magnesium compounds to regulate their sodium excretion processes. If you want to get the great prop roots going, I would suggest gently trying the mangrove to a wooden dowel and moving it up out of the water so that a thrid of the stem is exposed. Then, when the roots, which would at this point be out of substrate, will gradually grow longer porps like you see in the wild. By increasing the heigh of the plant relative to the water level over a month at a time, you can achieve a great root stucture. Also, these plants do not take kindly to being trimmed, so I would adivise that you wait for at least one year before trimming, and eventhen, trim when absoulutely necessary. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1045871 Enjoy the reading, and check out al the links! hope this helps. Black. __________________ Marine Ornamental Fish & Invert Breeders

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