[RyanG]

Who keeps marine plants, do you keep them in your sump or directly in your tank?

[DEWAYNE]

if you keep marine plant's you will need a halogen, or full spectrum light for health and growth, alot of what you can purchase in pet shop's is a great source of food for fish, mostly tang's, there are other's as well. these plant's can also be beneficial for you'r water quality, do some research on this if possible, I think marine plant's are a great way to keep you'r tank inmate's healthy, and not to mention you'r water quality in good readings.

[Krazy]

I have a nice halmedia plant in my display, its a pod haven/hot spot for my mandrin

I also grow the chato in my refugium

[SeaBoy]

I have green and red caulerpa directly in my tank, helps keep water parameters in check, had to remove normal lighting put true blue, and 6700k to help growth and run halide lights 2-3 hours a day, to prevent overpowering them

[Krazy]

I've herd caulerpa can go asexual and take over your tank (yikes)

[bspstang]

Originally Posted by Krazy K

I've herd caulerpa can go asexual and take over your tank (yikes)

It can take over if you let it, But I made alot of money selling it back to fish store.

[Raymond3457]

I am getting Chaetomorpha to keep in my fuge. And will get some red kelp also. I will grow it and trim the kelp to feed the herbovours once in a while.

[Lrood]

Keith - does your Halimeda put out many "runners" under the sand? I have some in separate tank that spreads fairly quickly, and have been hesitant to put any in my MDT for fear it may run rampant!

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by Lrood

Keith - does your Halimeda put out many "runners" under the sand? I have some in separate tank that spreads fairly quickly, and have been hesitant to put any in my MDT for fear it may run rampant!

Ken

I had a fairly LARGE root base with runners all over, I took that halmedia plant out of my display, I traded it in to a local shop for some credit, It literally was the size of a basket ball (the whole plant) I have some flordia paly/zoo's and I now have a mini-plant of the halmedia growing from that, this stuff thrives under halide lighting, its pretty amazing how fast it grows... I did some reading on it and it the halmedia plant gets large enough it could go sexual and really reak havoc in the tank, my main reason for trading it in for credit, my mandrin sure misses it though, I swear it hung out by that plant all day, it was easy hunting, the stomella snails/slugs loved to breed in that stuff too...

I love the look of the plant but after reading it could go sexual, I cant let myself keep it in the display tank any more...

[medic]

I'm just trying to learn somemore and was wondering where are some good sources of information.

[ry77]

I was wondering if there are any types of benificial macro algea that I can glow directly in my tank. I've seen pictures of tanks with algea that kinda looks like little trees. I like the wat it looks and it adds some nice color to the tank. I'm going to research this on my own but any help would be appreciated, Thanks

[boombadan]

i have two small plant and am hopeing they will grow, i have also ordered a purple plant offline. Some plants give your tank an awsome look when its loaded with bright color and u stick a dark colored plant here and there.

[pogodzib]

I used to have a couple huge Halimeda clumps growing in my tanks as well, until I found out that they can go assexual as well. Never caused any problems and was easy to trim to remove. I ended up removing them and tossing them out. I should have brought them to the LFS for store credit instead. Oh well. Now I just have some chaeto in my sump. The "little trees" that you are talking about are probably "shaving brushes" I tried one once in my display, but it got torn apart by one of my fish.

[t0mmyb0y]

i think the best looking macro for display is maiden's hair (sometimes called turtle weed). bright green, fine strands that wave beautifully in the current and grows fast. i also have some red grape and chaeto...gonna try out a red mangrove soon! love that biological filtration =)

[blind1993]

is anyone will to sent me some to alphretta and i will pay the shipping

[e_baer]

I have red mangroves in my tank. They are very nice because of the extensive root system they aquire with age. Mine are not nearly big enough to have huge amounts of roots, but they do help dramatically with water quality. They are also cheap to get.

[jpmwjm]

I also added Cheato to my refugium. I use two 25 watt 6500k flourescent bulbs over the fuge. Should this be adaquate for good growth? Also planning on getting some mangroves. E_baer, how many mangroves do you use? How long was it before you noticed any difference in your water quality or test numbers?

[e_baer]

Well, I have 3 in my 30. I aslo have a bunch of different plants in the same tank. I would say you should be able to notice change within a few days for sure.....depending on how large your aquarium is and how many mangroves. Ive read in a few different places, that you can actually set up an aquarium where you dont even need a protein skimmer, you can just have a bunch of mangroves in a sump or refugium. It takes about 1-2 plants per gallon of water though, depending on bio load. The first time I had mangroves, I didint do any research on it, and I just plopped them in the tank. You actually need to acclimate them.

[e_baer]

I also forgot to state that the mangrove tree is very picky about heat! When you have the plant, keep it at least 4-5 inches away form the light. When I first started with mangroves, I had about 7 of them in my 55 gal tank, and they all got baked.

[blind1993]

sorry for ur lost e_baer

[e_baer]

eh....its alright, I went onto ebay and got 21 plants for 22 dollars......I'd say thats a pretty good deal! But I gave most to my 2 friends who have marine tanks as well. One has a 30gal reef and the other just got a 55 about 4-5 months ago and has a snowflake in it right now. He is still working on the reef part though.

[jpmwjm]

Just got back from Florida with 34 mangrove plants. They are all about one year old with good root systems, at least 3 pairs of leaves and all look real healthy. They were raised in fresh water so I am slowly raising the SG on them until it matches my tank, before I add them into my refugium. I am trying to work out the best way to plant them.

[e_baer]

i think sand or a substrate liek that is the best.

[blind1993]

or just wedge the bottom on something or use string.

[Krazy]

I believe they would enjoy a nice deep sand bed of 6 inchs or so, plus you'll recieve good nitrate reduction from the deep sand bed (DSB) as well..

What kinda light do you plan on using for them ?

I've always been interested in the mangroves, They are pretty neat !!