Questions On Acclimating To Brackish

[Stacey13]

Hi everyone,

I joined this forum mostly because of your very helpful looking brackish sub-forum. Brackish info isn't always so easy to come by, and it seems to me that having people who actually have brackish aquaria would be the people most qualified to answer my questions.
Anyway, I'd like to get bumble bee gobies. I have a 26 gallon tank with sand substrate, an Aquaclear 50 filter, and a Fluval heater. I also have a box of Instant Ocean and a refractometer. (Anyone see any problems with this equipment?)
Currently this tank houses 7 Columbian Ramshorn snails taken from one of my other tanks. I've read that they can tolerate mildy brackish conditions, up to about 1.006, which is what I plan on maintaining the BBG's at. There is currently NO salt in this tank.
I have had the media in my canister for a couple of weeks, and plan on slowly acclimating the bacteria and snails to brackish conditions. Would a weekly increase of about 0.002 work? Any if so, approximately how much salt would that take?

Also for brackish aquaria, when I test my water, do I read the freshwater or saltwater side of the colour chart?


Thanks,
Stacey

 

[nmonks]

Greetings. Colombian ramshorn snails have indeed been reported in the wild to occur at up to 30% seawater salinity (around SG 1.006) though whether this is optimal for them is questionable. Since you're keeping bumblebee gobies, I'd aim for SG 1.003 first and see how things go. That should be ample for the gobies and shouldn't stress the snails unduly. Acclimating the filter bacteria will be a snap: just replace 25% of the water at each water change with SG 1.003 water. After a few water changes you should be fine.

Really, adapting from 1.000 to 1.005 can usually be done at once without the filter bacteria getting stressed. It's once you go above that you need to be a bit more careful.

Do bear in mind Colombian ramshorn snails demolish plants. Been there, done that!

Cheers, Neale

 

[Stacey13]

Thanks Neale!
I didn't realize the filter bacteria could take (what I thought was) such a drastic change....... good to know!
I may change my mind about keeping the snails in with the bees........(definitely if I decide to plant, they've already destroyed one planted tank)
Are there any other fish that would make good tankmates for the bees?

 

[nmonks]

I didn't realize the filter bacteria could take (what I thought was) such a drastic change....... good to know!

The bacteria are pretty tolerant. But do things in steps, and check for ammonia the next day to see everything is fine. If it's not, give it a week or two before you raise the salinity again.

Are there any other fish that would make good tankmates for the bees?

All kinds. Look for small gobies, guppies, glassfish, wrestling halfbeaks, flatfish, some shrimps, nerite snails, etc.

Cheers, Neale