Mangroves have recently become a new addition to the reef aquarium. Is it because of the photo's and articles written by Julian Sprung, or the belief that they will help remove nutients ? Could it be an attempt to rival those European freshwater planted aquariums, or possibly some way that we can increase the dynamics of our reef ecosystem ? What ever the reason Mangroves offer the marine aquarist some new challenges. 

There are 15.9 million hectares of Mangrove Forests in the tropical oceans around the world. In the Atlantic they are found from Florida to Argentina, and both the western and eastern coasts of Africa. They stretch into India, Burma and to south-east Asia. Mangrove forests are also found in New Zealand and Australia, although Indonesia hosts over a quarter of the world's mangrove population. 

Mangroves provide not only shelter and homes for a number of organisms, both above and below the water, but some organisms are indigenous specifically to these shoreline forests. Additionally mangrove forests help control erosion by dissipating the pounding of waves on shorelines and thus stabilizing embankments. 

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