Marine To Brakish

[kniesh]

Hi, I have just dismantled my 60gallon marine tank. It wasn't very mature, a few months old maybe. Anyway, I am now moving all my brakish tank into this tank and was just wondering about a few things. The brakish is currently 180gallon roughly 1.005 and houses, 5x F8's, Assorted Mollies, and BBG's. I have all the filters from the brackish that will just be moved over but I'm unsure on a few things;

1. will the marine sand from my marine tank be ok to use for the brackish now, or will there be too much in there that might die an course a cycle?

2. I wont need all the filters from my brackish 180gallon for the new one so what is the best routine to get these back to freshwater safe again, as I will be adding the fish to the 180gallon soon from their current holding tank so a fully mature fluval4 will come with them, but I will obviously need these ones too.

Thanks in advance, and I'm sure more questions will arise

 

[nmonks]

1. will the marine sand from my marine tank be ok to use for the brackish now, or will there be too much in there that might die an course a cycle?

Will be fine. But do give it a clean if it's dirty.

2. I wont need all the filters from my brackish 180gallon for the new one so what is the best routine to get these back to freshwater safe again, as I will be adding the fish to the 180gallon soon from their current holding tank so a fully mature fluval4 will come with them, but I will obviously need these ones too.

It'd be wise to run it as a marine tank, and then over the weeks, do a series of small water changes to reduce the salinity. Do this across 4-8 weeks, and the tank should adjust nicely.

Cheers, Neale

 

[kniesh]

Thanks Neale. Would it be a good idea to just put the Silver Needle over to the big tank thats brackish for now, doing a big freshwater change first to dilute the salt more? I know these are tolerant of brackish an can live in it so if I just moved that it would keep it cycled and keep doing freshwater changes?

 

[nmonks]

You mean a needlefish? Yes, supposedly they live even in the sea, but I've not seen that myself. Personally, I'd use mollies for maintaining filtration while adjusting salinity. They're bullet-proof in saline conditions, and will tolerate any problems you have across the way.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks Neale. Would it be a good idea to just put the Silver Needle over to the big tank thats brackish for now, doing a big freshwater change first to dilute the salt more? I know these are tolerant of brackish an can live in it so if I just moved that it would keep it cycled and keep doing freshwater changes?

 

[kniesh]

I mean a Xenentodon cancila. This is one of the fish sitting in the 55 waiting to go to the 180gal. I have Mollies already in it though so I will just move the young to their new home and keep the 3 adults in the tank while I change it over if thats better.