Hi Everyone! What is the best way to grow mangroves? How do I care for them? I was thinking about adding one.


Thanks!

put in fuge, apply light.

Most people will tell you deep sand bed, but they'll grow on porous live rocks as well. Lots of lights help, but they'll burn from the heat of metal halides. It's good to start with red mangroves. Also good to spray them with RODI water daily. And you have to keep the growth tip out of the water. They're very slow grower so they're not too good with nutrient export. You can train them to grow some crazy roots. Have fun.

Mangroves should mainly be considered as ornamental plants, like ornamental macroalgae. They aren't very effective for filtration.

Read this, including the links:
http://moon.ouhsc.edu/pwhitby/mangrove.htm

Can I grow a mangrove in a rubbermaid bucket and when it gets bigger transfer it?

Mangroves grow slowly, so you shouldn't need to transfer it for a long time.

My mangrove lost all its leaves. The root system is still alive but the top pretty much looks dead. Is there still hope for it or should I just throw it out at this point?

read this
http://www.athiel.com/lib11/manstart.htm

keep the tops extra moist with fresh water until the damage reverses if there is browning/damage to the stalk. Brittle pieces should be removed.

as to why the top might be dying - how is your magnesium? mangroves need mag to bring water to the top portion of the tree...try for 1200 or a little better.



you will want to keep it small with trimming and some people also pot the roots to encourage the roots to grow densely instead of out. If need be you can always trim the roots too, but you must be sparing when you do this. If you transfer a tree, (as opposed to a seed), it should be drip acclimated over a pretty long time, (6-10 hours if you can do it), to minimize stress. Acclimating them to new soil, (if that is an issue), should be done too. Just helps to minimize stress in the transport.