Nitrate Help

Not really, here is a quote from the article; "Mangroves not only have the ability to absorb nitrates, but phosphates and other organics as well. In fact, they remove organics so well from the water that they act as a replacement for a protein skimmer. When using mangroves you will notice your protein skimmer working less and less all the time. The more the mangroves grow and mature, the more they absorb the excess organics in your water, and the skimmer has nothing to remove and becomes obsolete. If you are a naturalist and don't want to have to use chemical additives or compounds to reduce and control nitrates in your aquarium, this is a very effective filtration method to consider".

They start using the nutrients right away. It's just the more they mature the greater the efficiency. No need to argue, just understand the nature of them. My wife and I had the pleasure on a couple of occasions to go to the Everglades in Florida and on one trip the guide took us into the mangroves and stopped and gave an explanation of how the organism works. Quite interesting, me having an aquarium, so I asked questions and learned quite a bit. What is the rush, like anything, they do grow and out perform most macro. Could any other macro replace your skimmer?

 

Unclejed

I don't care what some salesperson says. The facts are any plant will use nitrate and phosphate as it grows, the faster it grows the more it uses. Small mangroves do not grow very fast. So even if 100% of the mass they add is say 95% nitrate.5% phosphate.

Say it grows 20 grams a month. That means it pulls out 19 grams nitrate 1 gram phosphate.

Now if we replace that mangrove with chaeto, and lets say that chaeto only has 40 percent nitrate, 5 percent phosphate (I can't find the table right now with the correct numbers), but it grows at 500 grams a month, which is not an unusual growth rate for a decent sized fuge. That is 200 grams nitrate 25 grams phosphate. So in a normal fuge a ball of chaeto can pull out 50X as much nitrate/phosphate as a mangrove, just because of how much faster it grows. Now if you have the space to have a mangrove tree that is say 12 feet in diameter it will pull out a lot of nutrients, but still not as much as a 12 foot diameter ball of chaeto. Macro algae grows much faster than higher plants. Most higher plants because of the slower growth rates can grow in much less nutrient environments though.

Kim

 

Ridiculous argument not backed by any scientific data. I'm done with this. Oh, with all due respect that is.

 

Since you will not believe me.

Try reading this.

Using Mangroves As A Filtration Method | Aquarists Online | Aquarium Fish Resources And Information

Here is the quote from that article.

Here is somebody else saying the exact same thing.

http://petcare.suite101.com/article.cfm/growing_mangroves_for_aquarists

 

No bio balls 1st set of mangroves(2) been in for almost a month added 3 more last friday.......