Ive Had my 28 g nano reef for some time now and wanna start something new. Im just wondering if it would be difficult growing a mangrove with the pico and its basic equipment.

just need a deep sand bed and 6700K light. HOB filter. getting the mangrove to root is the key. Just beware that they will grow out of the picotope and the light will have to be higher up.

How long are you intending to keep this set up? A mangrove could very easily take over a 3gal pico. They can, no doubt, grow tall but you also have to consider the sprawl of their roots and any arial roots as well. I'd say a 10gal may be more advisable... simply because it should take a pretty long time to outgrow a 10gal! Although a 3gal isn't impossible, it just may not take long for a mangrove to take it over.

You should definitely get a propagule (sometimes called a "pod") instead of a sprouted, rooted plant as they can be sensitive (once rooted) to significant changes in salinity. A red mangrove propagule should root fairly easily (but be patient it can take time)

To truly thrive though they need better lighting than most people think. MH's are ideal, but they will certainly also fair well under T5's and a decent amount of PC's. Just a shop light or halogen light that you would use for chaeto or other macro, contrary to common rhetoric, simply won't cut it. Also be sure the tank does have a bit of bioload as they really will uptake nutrients and so forth in your tank (which makes them AWESOME natural filters). So keep in mind that they may not fhrive or even grow well at all in a tank that it too "clean". Also, it really helps to gently wipe the leaves of the sprotued mangroves with fresh water to keep the leaves free of salt build-up. Temperature isn't too big a concern they are fairly tolerant, obviously nothing too cold. Tropical reef temps, 75-82, are ideal. They can actually tolerate a pretty broad pH range between 6-9 however a pH of around 8 is advisable for a saltwater environment. Waterflow is necessary, obviously, in an aquarium, although mangroves can handle stagnant conditions. A small pwerhead should be all that is needed for waterflow. A HOB filter would work well too and would also supply surface agitation as well as a slightly increased water volume.

I just converted my 55gal reef to a cay biotope with some mangroves as I've always wanted to incorporate mangroves into a display. Let me know if you need to know any thing else. I'm happy to help you plan stuff out.

Here are some pics of my tank I JUST set up. I converted it from a full blown 55gal reef just a few days ago. Excuse the crumby pic quality, the lack of aquarium backing, and the frags all over the sand bed . I may start a thread for this tank in the future when I get some specific species I'm looking for. I chose a cay biotope instead a full-blown mangrove shoreline biotope so that I could still incorporate reef species. A cay is essentially an area of reef that is shallow and traps sand and occasionally costal vegetation to form a small isle. I've noticed larger, older cays are spelled "keys" (so I'm not quite sure how the terminology, differs between the spelling of cay/key, or if it does at all). I am hoping to simulate a young cay just starting to form as I am still addicted to corals and reef species but I wanted something different from a full-blown reef.

Again, let me need if you need to know anything else.

you can do it, bonsai mangroves for you. well for all of us too I guess.

Hahaha... true. I am actually a bonsai enthusiast as well. Mangroves can be pruned and trained and 'dwarved' to some extent by pruning. You need to be very careful when pruning though. Most importantly, do NOT prune the tree until the axial growth tip (the initial 'shoot') of the propagule has branched. If you cut the axial growth tip of the propagule before it branches the plant will die.

here is my little mangrove sump.

root grow like crazy. i trim them down every month.


they grow better in deep sand bed than just flowing them cause nitr and phos tend to settle in the sand. so it makes it easier to adsorb it from there. that is wat i think.