MyFishTank.Net Freshwater Saltwater Aquarium Fish Forum - View Single Post

Brack-Man · 03-20-2006, 06:21 PM

EQUIPMENT:

Tank: Most people say nothing less than 30 gals, I disagree with this, there are some brackish water species that will do fine in a 10 gal tank as long as you dont over stock it. But remember, the bigger the tank the more stable it will be.

FILTER: I have found that the best filters are either the hang on the back mechanical with bio-wheel fliters and canister filters for brackish tanks. I personally use Rena XP-3 canister filters on my large tanks with Marineland or Peguin filters as back-ups. You want your water turned around 10 times per hour at least (on a 30 gal tank that would be a single 300 gph filter or 2 150 ghp filters), but I' a big fan of over filtering especially since many of the brackish species are messy eaters.

HEATER: Dont go cheap! Get a good submersible heater, preferably two, one for back-up. Make sure its for fresh and salt ater use. (5 watts of heat per gallon)

GLASS CANOPY/ LIGHTS: It does not have to be a glass canopy but in my experience the glass helps to cut back on evaporation. Since there will be salt in your waterr there are very few plants that will grow in the tank, however there are some and I will touch on them at a later time, but for tghe time being standard lighting should be fine.

THERMOMETER/HYDROMETER: You will need a thermometer, and a hydrometer to measure the salinity of your water. Make sure when buying your hydrometer that it reads as low as 1.001 and reads in .001 increments, if your local fish store doesnt have one that reads that low, check with stores that sell brewing supplies and get one there. Another way of checkig salinity is with a refractometer, they are more expensive that hydrometers, but are more precise and most all of them automatically compesate for water temp.

SUBSTRATE: This is mostly up to you, however brackish biotopes are usually sandy, silty or muddy. A lot of the people I know with brackish tanks use play sand from the local hardware store, I personally use aragonite sand mixed with onyx sand in order to maintain a higher pH level. Avoid thick layers of substrate, as they can build up anerobic gases which can be harmful to your fish.

MARINE SALT: I use Instant Ocean but most any brand of synthetic or natural sea salt should be fine. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER USE API AQUARIUM SALT. This is not the right kind of salt for brackish water,I dont care what your LFG said, it does not contain the proper trace minerals and nutients that brackish fish need to lead a healthy life.(For more info on different types of "aquarium " salts see 'Confused Over Salt?'below.)

WATER TEST KIT:As with all tanks your water parameters are very important, therfore a good test kit is needed. Since brackish water is part saltwater and part freshwater, a test kit that covers both SW and FW will be needed. I use Tetra's MasterTest Kit, it contains both SW and FW tests in one kit. The only SW tests that will need to be peformed are for pH and KH (carbonate Hardness). Eveything else will fall under the FW category.

WATER CONDITIONER: Just like allways you need to remove chlorine and chloramine from your water before putting it in the tank. I use API Stress Coat, you can use whatever you want just make sure its for fresh and saltwater.

DECORATIONS: This depends mostly on which biotope you choose to imitate, but silk/plastic plants, drift/bog wood (if it is real wood make sure you clean it really good with hot water, boil it if possible before putting it in the tank) and rocks.

Confused Over Salt?

Aquarium Salt is Sodium Chloride (NaCl). Also known as common salt, table salt or rock salt. This would include Doc Wellfishes Aquarium Salt and Aquarium Pharmacuticals inc.(API) Aquarium Salt. It does not contain the trace minerals that are essential for brackish and marine species.
(Also want to add as a side note: It isn’t advised to use table salt in any aquarium as it can contain anti-caking agents – to prevent clumping – and these are harmful to fish).
You will notice on the container of most brands of AQ salt, it does say “For FW Fish”

Marine Salt is made up of more elements then I want to list here. It also has buffering capacity (Kh or Alkalinity) to help keep your Ph in high end range (8.0 and above) as is necessary when keeping many BW species.
You will notice on the container of most brands of Marine or Sea Salt, it says “For SW Aquariums”

Brackish Water is basically diluted Ocean Water.

If you use 'aquarium salt' you are not duplicating the conditions native to brackish water habitats. Unfortunately many fish stores will tell you differently and say the Aquarium Salt is just fine for making brackish water. As with anything, do you own research and take what they say with a grain of salt (no pun intended)!!
__________________

SETUP YOUR TANK

All the basics of setting up a freshwater tank apply in setting up a brackish tank, but this is how I set my tanks up.
1)Out of direct sunlight
2)Level, sturdy stand
3)Place 1 heater at each end of tank
4) Set-up filter( I only use carbon in my filters for about the first 3 months or so after that I only use the filter floss, ceramic rings, and the foam elements
5)Fill the tank up with fresh water to check for leaks and to check filters.
6)Add dechlorinator to tank, add salt to tank (NOTE only add salt directly to tank during the original set-up proccess never add salt directly to tank with fish in it) Turn on filters and heaters, let run for 24-48 hours,check temp and SG.(Salt content = this amount will vary, I suggest starting off with about 1tbs of salt per gal of water and adjust accordingly, but remember, that most lfs sell brackish fish either as fresh water fish or in fresh water for convenience so its best to find out what SG your LFS keeps their Brackish fish in and get your water as close to that as possible.)
7)Once temp and SG is ok (temp between 78-82), drain off about 1/4 water and add substrate and other decor, remember to rinse really well before adding to tank.Top off water. Let tank run for another 48-72 hrs or until it starts to clear.
8)This is the step where you can start the cycling proccess, You can do a fish in or fishless cycle its up to you, I prefer the fish in cycle myself. The use of BIO SPIRA and some small fish to start with is the prefered method of many for fish in cycling, and I will talk more about the types of fish to use later.

CYCLING YOUR BRACKISH TANK
Cycling a brackish tank is much the same as cycling a freshwater tank. There are two basic ways of cycling your tank, The Fishless Cycle and The fish in Cycle. I have personally never used the fishless cycling method so below are 2 links fomr MFT's Freshwater Beginner Stickies on fishless cycling for anyone who wants to try it.
Iggy’s Tank Cycle Recipe
Fishless Cycling - Everything You Wanted to know...
Fish in cycling

Converting from Freshwater to Brackish Water
Converting with fish : This is assuming that you bought your fish from your LFS in freshwater. It is very important that you do not increase the salinity of your aquarium water by more than .002ppt (SG) at a time. Too much of a salt increase will badly stress out the fish and may kill your beneficial bacteria. First of all it is best to pre-mix your saltwater the day before doing water changes, and use an air stone or power head to mix/oxygenate the water. Do a 50% water change, add pre-mixed saltwater to tank slowly. Now, some people and articles say to do this weekly until you have reached your desired salinity, I personally suggest only increasing your salinity monthly to give your fish and beneficial bacteria time to adjust to the increasing salt levels. However you should still do weekly water changes, being sure to match your new SG each time. Then the next month, increase your SG .002 again, continue doing this each month until you have reached your desired salinity.
How to Calculate SG:
Example: 10gal Tank
Starting Water SG Level:1.000
Goal SG Level: 1.002
Pre-mix SG Level: 1.004
Multiply goal SG by 2 since you are doing 50% water change and this gives you what your pre-mix SG level should be, in this case it is 1.004.

For those of you who have read this far and are scratching yor heads I'm not finished yet

,I will gladly accept constructive critism, comments and questions. Thanks for reading and I hope its a start to helping those who want to know more about Brackish Water Tanks

EDIT: Iwill also add any credits from articles at the end of this because believe me this is not all in my head, I did need some help

Sorry for having to split it up like this but I can only post a thread of 10000 words or less at a time

Jeremy

03-20-2006, 06:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
Brack-Man Little Fish Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: In the cardboard box my fish tank came in Posts: 267	Continuation of A Guide To EQUIPMENT: Tank: Most people say nothing less than 30 gals, I disagree with this, there are some brackish water species that will do fine in a 10 gal tank as long as you dont over stock it. But remember, the bigger the tank the more stable it will be. FILTER: I have found that the best filters are either the hang on the back mechanical with bio-wheel fliters and canister filters for brackish tanks. I personally use Rena XP-3 canister filters on my large tanks with Marineland or Peguin filters as back-ups. You want your water turned around 10 times per hour at least (on a 30 gal tank that would be a single 300 gph filter or 2 150 ghp filters), but I' a big fan of over filtering especially since many of the brackish species are messy eaters. HEATER: Dont go cheap! Get a good submersible heater, preferably two, one for back-up. Make sure its for fresh and salt ater use. (5 watts of heat per gallon) GLASS CANOPY/ LIGHTS: It does not have to be a glass canopy but in my experience the glass helps to cut back on evaporation. Since there will be salt in your waterr there are very few plants that will grow in the tank, however there are some and I will touch on them at a later time, but for tghe time being standard lighting should be fine. THERMOMETER/HYDROMETER: You will need a thermometer, and a hydrometer to measure the salinity of your water. Make sure when buying your hydrometer that it reads as low as 1.001 and reads in .001 increments, if your local fish store doesnt have one that reads that low, check with stores that sell brewing supplies and get one there. Another way of checkig salinity is with a refractometer, they are more expensive that hydrometers, but are more precise and most all of them automatically compesate for water temp. SUBSTRATE: This is mostly up to you, however brackish biotopes are usually sandy, silty or muddy. A lot of the people I know with brackish tanks use play sand from the local hardware store, I personally use aragonite sand mixed with onyx sand in order to maintain a higher pH level. Avoid thick layers of substrate, as they can build up anerobic gases which can be harmful to your fish. MARINE SALT: I use Instant Ocean but most any brand of synthetic or natural sea salt should be fine. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER USE API AQUARIUM SALT. This is not the right kind of salt for brackish water,I dont care what your LFG said, it does not contain the proper trace minerals and nutients that brackish fish need to lead a healthy life.(For more info on different types of "aquarium " salts see 'Confused Over Salt?'below.) WATER TEST KIT:As with all tanks your water parameters are very important, therfore a good test kit is needed. Since brackish water is part saltwater and part freshwater, a test kit that covers both SW and FW will be needed. I use Tetra's MasterTest Kit, it contains both SW and FW tests in one kit. The only SW tests that will need to be peformed are for pH and KH (carbonate Hardness). Eveything else will fall under the FW category. WATER CONDITIONER: Just like allways you need to remove chlorine and chloramine from your water before putting it in the tank. I use API Stress Coat, you can use whatever you want just make sure its for fresh and saltwater. DECORATIONS: This depends mostly on which biotope you choose to imitate, but silk/plastic plants, drift/bog wood (if it is real wood make sure you clean it really good with hot water, boil it if possible before putting it in the tank) and rocks. Confused Over Salt? Aquarium Salt is Sodium Chloride (NaCl). Also known as common salt, table salt or rock salt. This would include Doc Wellfishes Aquarium Salt and Aquarium Pharmacuticals inc.(API) Aquarium Salt. It does not contain the trace minerals that are essential for brackish and marine species. (Also want to add as a side note: It isn’t advised to use table salt in any aquarium as it can contain anti-caking agents – to prevent clumping – and these are harmful to fish). You will notice on the container of most brands of AQ salt, it does say “For FW Fish” Marine Salt is made up of more elements then I want to list here. It also has buffering capacity (Kh or Alkalinity) to help keep your Ph in high end range (8.0 and above) as is necessary when keeping many BW species. You will notice on the container of most brands of Marine or Sea Salt, it says “For SW Aquariums” Brackish Water is basically diluted Ocean Water. If you use 'aquarium salt' you are not duplicating the conditions native to brackish water habitats. Unfortunately many fish stores will tell you differently and say the Aquarium Salt is just fine for making brackish water. As with anything, do you own research and take what they say with a grain of salt (no pun intended)!! __________________ SETUP YOUR TANK All the basics of setting up a freshwater tank apply in setting up a brackish tank, but this is how I set my tanks up. 1)Out of direct sunlight 2)Level, sturdy stand 3)Place 1 heater at each end of tank 4) Set-up filter( I only use carbon in my filters for about the first 3 months or so after that I only use the filter floss, ceramic rings, and the foam elements 5)Fill the tank up with fresh water to check for leaks and to check filters. 6)Add dechlorinator to tank, add salt to tank (NOTE only add salt directly to tank during the original set-up proccess never add salt directly to tank with fish in it) Turn on filters and heaters, let run for 24-48 hours,check temp and SG.(Salt content = this amount will vary, I suggest starting off with about 1tbs of salt per gal of water and adjust accordingly, but remember, that most lfs sell brackish fish either as fresh water fish or in fresh water for convenience so its best to find out what SG your LFS keeps their Brackish fish in and get your water as close to that as possible.) 7)Once temp and SG is ok (temp between 78-82), drain off about 1/4 water and add substrate and other decor, remember to rinse really well before adding to tank.Top off water. Let tank run for another 48-72 hrs or until it starts to clear. 8)This is the step where you can start the cycling proccess, You can do a fish in or fishless cycle its up to you, I prefer the fish in cycle myself. The use of BIO SPIRA and some small fish to start with is the prefered method of many for fish in cycling, and I will talk more about the types of fish to use later. CYCLING YOUR BRACKISH TANK Cycling a brackish tank is much the same as cycling a freshwater tank. There are two basic ways of cycling your tank, The Fishless Cycle and The fish in Cycle. I have personally never used the fishless cycling method so below are 2 links fomr MFT's Freshwater Beginner Stickies on fishless cycling for anyone who wants to try it. Iggy’s Tank Cycle Recipe Fishless Cycling - Everything You Wanted to know... Fish in cycling Converting from Freshwater to Brackish Water Converting with fish : This is assuming that you bought your fish from your LFS in freshwater. It is very important that you do not increase the salinity of your aquarium water by more than .002ppt (SG) at a time. Too much of a salt increase will badly stress out the fish and may kill your beneficial bacteria. First of all it is best to pre-mix your saltwater the day before doing water changes, and use an air stone or power head to mix/oxygenate the water. Do a 50% water change, add pre-mixed saltwater to tank slowly. Now, some people and articles say to do this weekly until you have reached your desired salinity, I personally suggest only increasing your salinity monthly to give your fish and beneficial bacteria time to adjust to the increasing salt levels. However you should still do weekly water changes, being sure to match your new SG each time. Then the next month, increase your SG .002 again, continue doing this each month until you have reached your desired salinity. How to Calculate SG: Example: 10gal Tank Starting Water SG Level:1.000 Goal SG Level: 1.002 Pre-mix SG Level: 1.004 Multiply goal SG by 2 since you are doing 50% water change and this gives you what your pre-mix SG level should be, in this case it is 1.004. For those of you who have read this far and are scratching yor heads I'm not finished yet ,I will gladly accept constructive critism, comments and questions. Thanks for reading and I hope its a start to helping those who want to know more about Brackish Water Tanks EDIT: Iwill also add any credits from articles at the end of this because believe me this is not all in my head, I did need some help Sorry for having to split it up like this but I can only post a thread of 10000 words or less at a time Jeremy __________________ I don't have a "Little Fish" Life is not like a box of chocolates; it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today might burn your a$$ tomorrow. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges? Think about it, if the world didnt suck, we would all fall off. 20 gal Reef Tank w/10 gal refugium Last edited by Brack-Man; 03-28-2006 at 07:16 PM.