First brackish tank!

[Eldonko]

Hi guys,

This is my first post here (other than my intro) and I look forward to becoming a active member of these forums. Yesterday I set up a 33 gallon tank which will be used for a brackish community of fish. I really like the puffers so the main part of the tank will be a few of those and whatever can get along with the puffers. However, choosing the fish is the fun part and its not time for that yet, it's time for the work!

Last night I filled the tank about 3/4 and set up the pump to get some water flowing. Tonight I added some playsand (I washed it first) and a few rocks and filled tank. Tomorrow plants.

To start the cycling I added some brine shrimp to help with ammonia and an appropriate amount of "Cycle" (bacteria accelerator) for the tank size. I also put in some rock from another tank I have.

I don't have a light yet and am looking for a recommendation of which type of light and bulb will be best for puffers and brackish plants. I want to get my plants established asap but I have a feeling that decent brackish plants may be tough to find around here. There are lots of cobomba plants (prolly spelled wrong), will those grow with salt?

I have a testing kit to test my nitrates, ammonia, nitrites, and PHs and will test tomorrow.

I also added the first cup of marine salt tonight. My plan is to add 1 cup every 2 days for a total of 6 cups. This should bring SG to 1.0055 I think.

That sound ok so far? Am I missing anything?

Hope you don’t mind my questions, I learn quick and want to do this right. I will post pics and such of my progress.

Cheers.

 

[CFC]

The only plants that grow well in brackish water are java fern and java moss, anubias and vallis do ok up to about 1.003 but above that they just go yellow and die.

Unfortunately there is no evidennce that cycle works and most people have had no success at all with it, the only guarenteed cycle starter is bio spira which is a live culture of bacteria and is kept in the fridge of specialist fish stores.

Other than that all sounds fine keep us informed of how it goes.

 

[Eldonko]

The only plants that grow well in brackish water are java fern and java moss, anubias and vallis do ok up to about 1.003 but above that they just go yellow and die.

Unfortunately there is no evidennce that cycle works and most people have had no success at all with it, the only guarenteed cycle starter is bio spira which is a live culture of bacteria and is kept in the fridge of specialist fish stores.

Other than that all sounds fine keep us informed of how it goes.

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Thanks for the reply. I read somewhere that cobomba may grow in brackish water, can someone confirm this? What plant do most put in their puffer tank? I need something that will live in 1.005-1.006 SG.

Yeah I don't expect too much from cycle. However it only cost a few bucks so it can't hurt to give it a try.

 

[Eldonko]

Ok I have been doing some research and I think I have decided what will live in my brackish tank.

2x F8
2x BBG
1x Knight Grobie
1x Dragon Grobie

I will get the 2 F8s when my tank has cycled and let them get used to the tank and the stuff in it. Then a week or 2 later I will get the other four.

I am going to keep my SG at 1.003 or so, that should be good for all of those fish right? Does the mix look ok?

 

[chris_1127]

from memory knights need a slightly higher sg than figure 8's in the long run, but i have both in a light brackish (1.005) tank at the moment and they seem to be doing fine. I also have bumblebee gobies, but one or two do seem to have disappeared, and the male knight goby (who is prety big) does look slightly fatter......

i have candystripes in my tank too - take a look at the pics in the tank gallery for some recent pictures but id really reccomend these too if you can find them

 

[Eldonko]

from memory knights need a slightly higher sg than figure 8's in the long run, but i have both in a light brackish (1.005) tank at the moment and they seem to be doing fine. I also have bumblebee gobies, but one or two do seem to have disappeared, and the male knight goby (who is prety big) does look slightly fatter......

i have candystripes in my tank too - take a look at the pics in the tank gallery for some recent pictures but id really reccomend these too if you can find them

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Candystripes? Dunno what those even look like. Got a link? Googling wasn't very helpful.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i'm not positive, but isn't a 33g a little on the small side for two F8s?

 

[Eldonko]

i'm not positive, but isn't a 33g a little on the small side for two F8s?

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I thought it was 10g per F8 but I am not sure

 

[chris_1127]

i'd have thought that 33g would be more than enough for 2 wouldnt it? they max out at about 6cm so should be plenty of room

edit - sorry links here for candy stripes -
Profile - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=92032
More pics - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=101241

 

[Eldonko]

i'd have thought that 33g would be more than enough for 2 wouldnt it? they max out at about 6cm so should be plenty of room

edit - sorry links here for candy stripes -
Profile - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=92032
More pics - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=101241

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Ahh, nice thank you. I will keep an eye out for one of those

 

[pica_nuttalli]

huh, sorry about that. you're right, Ebert's got T. biocellatus at 6 cm--don't know why, but i thought they grew much larger. strike my previous coment!

 

[Eldonko]

huh, sorry about that. you're right, Ebert's got T. biocellatus at 6 cm--don't know why, but i thought they grew much larger. strike my previous coment!

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No prob.

My sand is finally settling after a few days and I have the 2nd cup of salt all dissolved in a pitcher of water all ready to dump in when I get home from work. Then 3 days later I will add another cup and that should put me to 1.0025 or so SG.

I got the first plant in there yesterday, a java fern. I plan on getting a bunch more ferns and java moss and red mangroves if I can find em.

Tested ammonia levels yesterday and there was very little detected (after 3 days). Should I be adding some household stuff to get the cycle going quicker?

 

[chris_1127]

yep you really need some source of ammonia in the tank to get the cycle going - if you do a search for "fishless cycle" you should get the info you need - basically you need to add a set volume of ammonia daily to the tank - i used 5 drops of neat ammonia solution per day in my 30gal - until you get a nitrite spike (ie sudden big increase in nitrite reading). then after that reduce to 1-2 drops per day until nitrite returns to zero as well.

 

[JJ1234567]

Only thing I have to add is that cycle did work for me when I set up my fresh water tank, so i dont see why it wouldnt work for brackish as well.

 

[Eldonko]

Only thing I have to add is that cycle did work for me when I set up my fresh water tank, so i dont see why it wouldnt work for brackish as well.

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How long did your tank cycle take total?

I added some bloodworms to rot and turn to ammonia but it takes a couple of days I guess. I will retest ammonia tonight and also nitrate and nitrite to see in anything else has moved yet. Where does one get plain old ammonia, walmart or somewhere?

chris_1127, I read a ton about tank cycling lately and most say to use a shrimp or something like that, I figured bloodworms would have the same effect. I couldn't find info on exactly what kinda ammonia to use or how much I need. Got any links?