Live Rock In High End Brackish?

[GlidergirlUK]

Is it possible to have live rock in High end brackish? or is it only for full SW?

 

[nmonks]

Depends what you're trying to achieve. Bacterial filtration will work in freshwater, brackish water or salt water. So by all means dump a bunch of live rock in the tank, let everything die off, and then bacteria will move in and colonise the aerobic and anaerobic spaces in the rock.

But if you're after having all the marine "bugs" alive and well, then the short answer is that likely 90%+ of the stuff will die when exposed to a salinity much below normal marine (SG 1.025). Some things might adapt, particularly worms and copepods, but whether it's worth the cost/effort is debatable.

Much better to simply concentrate on brackish-tolerant animals, of which there are many, if you know where to look.

Cheers, Neale

Is it possible to have live rock in High end brackish? or is it only for full SW?

 

[GlidergirlUK]

I have 4 Green Spotted Puffers and am looking for a Huge tank to be their forever home, but I was wonering if Live rock can help me with the filtration side when I get the bigger tank when it is High end brackish.. (or even now in my freshwater smaller tank)

Hope that makes sense.

 

[nmonks]

Ah, I see. Before the live rock, I'd invest in a skimmer instead. Cheaper and easier to use, and effective down to SG 1.010. Both live rock and skimmers help reduce nitrates, albeit in different ways. A skimmer would work now, and if in a few years you decide to raise the salinity to normal marine, you can add some live rock.

Cheers, Neale

 

[GlidergirlUK]

Ok, thanks for the help.

Im trying to find a rather large tank around the 120 USgallon ish...any ideas?

I can see myself asking loads more questions nearer the time!

 

[iliveinazoo]

The Juwell 450 is just under 120USG.

Aquaone do large tanks and ND Aquatics do massive ones but with ND Aquatics you have to buy your own lighting unit etc..

Try aquarist classifieds for second hand ones, there is also a buy/ sell/ swap feature on here

 

[GlidergirlUK]

Thanks for your help. Ye sI had looked at the Jewel, just trying to make my mind up now!

 

[Little Fish]

nmonks is right about the live rocks; don't waste money. One way for marine fish keepers to get rid of unwanted pests on live rocks is to dip the rock in high or low salinity salt water. Within minutes, bristle worms, crabs, and everything else will get out from the rock. If you keep the live rocks in brackish water for more than a moment nothing including the bacteria will survive the low salinity.

Personally, I've tried a skimmer on my brackish tank with SG as high as 1.009 but it is not enough to produce any useful bubbles for skimming. The brackish water tolerant plants that people told me to try: sagittaria and vallisneria just "melt" in the brackish water within a month. Java fern scored a little better but only lasted for about 3 months. The only plant that thrives in that environment were mangrove pods, they were doing so well that I had to trim the leaves every 2 weeks otherwise they would hit the lights. I could only imagine how much waste those mangroves were pulling out from the water. The downside of using mangroves was my tank became an open top and I had to replenish water more often. By the way, you can also drop a couple of Manila trumpet snails in the tank. They are very good tank cleaners and they have no problem in my brackish tank at all. My figure 8's left them alone because they are most of the time nocturnal and their shells are too hard for the puffers to break.