New To Brackish - Help And Advice Please

[glacier]

Hi, I can't decide what to put in my tank, its between fresh and brackish, both will be 'predatory' stocked.

I'll post my brackish questions here, and try and make up my mind based on the responce. I've got FW tanks, and feel brackish might be the next step.

The tank is a juwel rio 180, 40"x16"x20" (LWH). Which makes 207 litres (when I remove the internal filter - I'm getting a tetratec 1200 -birthday money ftw).
I would like to know possible fish suggestions, one that don't need feeder fish.
I would like a semi-active tank, the ideas I have so far are limited, only general fish, I would however like a Butis Butis in there (2 if possible). Some sort of toadfish, would be interesting, and possibly some sort of goby. Ofcourse any other suggestion would be very nice. I would like a sort of ambush predator theme if possible (though some activity would be nice - I know that sounds like a contradiction but is it possbile?)

General brackish questions now.
I would like to know how easy it is to set up and maintain a brackish tank, also how expensive (in Uk if possible eg. the amount of marine salt required, how long would it last me etc.). I'm just apprehensive about going to the next level. I plan to have sand mixed with crushed coral to keep the pH up (though I read the salt will help this).

Many thanks for your assistance and patience, I know I must sound a noob (though I am)

ps. I also posted this on another forum, so apologies if you read it twice.

 

[dilbert]

General brackish questions now.
I would like to know how easy it is to set up and maintain a brackish tank, also how expensive (in Uk if possible eg. the amount of marine salt required, how long would it last me etc.).

Hi!

I'am also a newbie but I can tell at least something on the salt.

For slighty or "low-end" brackish water of SG 1.005 or salinity 6 ppt, you need roughly 10 grams of marine salt for 1 liter of freshwater. I buy from an LFS in Keighley a no-name no-brand marine salt that dissolves almost buy itself. Stirring a few times within 5 minutes and it is done. It keeps its ph from the beginning.

With tap water of ph 7.2 it gives brackish water of ph 7.7.

Before, I used Ultramarine Synthetica sealt salt what maybe stood too long on the shelf. This had a ph of 9.4 after mixing and after a day the ph went down to 8.0 and after another day to ph 7.7 what makes it quite cumbersome to use. This salt also didn't dissolve that fast. As most animals don't like ph changes you have to check if the ph value is right before to add it to the tank.

Many people are used to wait a day eitherway but I mix it with boiling water from a kettle and use it instantaneously. In this case is an infrared thermoter quite handy to measure instantaneously the temperature in the tank and in the bucket.

I got an infrared thermometer along with a digital scale with resolution in grams already from keeping reptiles. The infrared thermometers start with £ 35 and a digital scale of that resolution is at Tesco for £ 12.

My no-name no-brand marine salt (what the shop keeper is saying to use it for his marine tanks in the shop) is £ 2.99 for 1 kg or £ 49.99 for a 25 kg bucket. If you change weekly 25% of your water that's not too much.

Until now, I always measured exactly the salinity as expected from the salt mixing, i.e. 10 grams for 1 liter. As brackish water in estuaries can change slightly its salinity you could also live a very long time without an exact meter.

I bought a conductivity meter "Aqua Mate" from Daeyoon for £ 30 + PP. (Please use the search function if interested as otherwise I will get caught for spam ... )

 

[glacier]

So its pretty cheap then, I was worried I'd be spending tons on marine salt.

Any fish suggestions?

 

[nmonks]

I would like to know possible fish suggestions, one that don't need feeder fish.

Brackish water fish are generally opportunists, so feeding them isn't usually a problem. The ones to avoid are pure fish-eaters, like the various wasp/toad/stonefishes, but even those will take river shrimp immediately and frozen foods once trained.

I would like a semi-active tank, the ideas I have so far are limited, only general fish, I would however like a Butis Butis in there (2 if possible).

Butis butis is, like most of the Eleotridae, somewhat territorial. So rather than getting two, which would lead to one bullying the other, either keep one or at least three. A wide variety of other sleeper gobies appear in the trade, though infrequently. Eleotris fusca and Dormitator lebretonis are two species you shouldn't have difficulty finding or ordering.

Some sort of toadfish, would be interesting, and possibly some sort of goby. Of course any other suggestion would be very nice. I would like a sort of ambush predator theme if possible (though some activity would be nice - I know that sounds like a contradiction but is it possbile?)

Yes, it's a contradiction. Also bear in mind ambush predators tend to be territorial: once they have a hiding place, they don't want to share access to prey. So many are best kept one to a tank. That said, some species are small enough that in groups no harm is done. Neovespicula depressifrons would fit into this category, as do Dormitator lebretonis and knight gobies.

I would like to know how easy it is to set up and maintain a brackish tank, also how expensive (in Uk if possible eg. the amount of marine salt required, how long would it last me etc.).

No more difficult than a freshwater tank. As for costs, I bought a 1.24 kilo box of salt this week for £5.12. That will make 37 litres of seawater at SG 1.025, or 185 litres at SG 1.005. In other words, if your tank wasn't overstocked and the fish not overfed, you could get away with 25% water changes per week, which for your 180 litre tank would come out at as roughly one £5.12 box of salt every four weeks. Shopping around for bigger packages of salt at lower prices would cost even less.

I plan to have sand mixed with crushed coral to keep the pH up (though I read the salt will help this).

Yes, this is correct: ordinary marine salt mix will raise the carbonate hardness automatically. Simply putting crushed coral or coral sand on the bottom of the tank is really neither here nor there. As soon as the algae and bacteria cover the sand grains, the dissolution of carbonate into the water slows right down. It's more effective to put the crushed coral in the filter, and then clean this compartment once a month or so, deep cleaning the crushed coral to rinse away the bacterial slime so that it recovers its buffering ability.

Cheers, Neale