questions on brackish setup

[Kaga's Kritters]

Thinking of converting my 5.5g to a brackish tank to make a better home for my bumblebee goby. I just have a few questions though...

1. is it 1 tsp or 1 tbsp of aquarium salt per 5 gal of water?

2. what other kind of fish can handle the brackish water? like danios or platys or otos or what? what about a mystery snail?


Just trying to find out what options I have in setting up a tank like this......any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Dave66]

Heidi,
You need to buy marine salt and a hygrometer or better a refractometer. You should aim for 1.012 salinity. None of the fish and mollusc will survive it. Mollies actually do better in brackish tanks. None of the other available brackish fish are small enough for your tank.

Dave

[Kaga's Kritters]

i was just told by someone on another board that bumblebee gobies dont really need brackish water and they dont necassarily do better in it either....what do you think?

[cocoa_pleco]

i would think its best for them to be in brackish.

and yes, mollies can be converted to brackish or full marine but your tank is too small.

[Kaga's Kritters]

about how much marine salt would it take to make the salinity around 1.005 in a 5.5gal tank? need to know how much to buy.

[Kaga's Kritters]

ok im getting different opinions on how much marine salt to use...

I want the salinity to be 1.005

i have heard 1 tbsp/ 5 gal, 1-2 tbsp/ 1 gal, and 100g/ 2.5 gal

How much do I really need??? If you could put it into terms of tablespoons or cups that would be easier for me than grams. thanks.

[Treerat]

I just read a post where one member adds 1 CUP per 5g. Who is right in setting basic BW conditions?

[Kaga's Kritters]

i use about 6 tbsps per 5 gal and that gets the salinity to about 1.005 - 1.008, which is a low end brackish tank.

[Treerat]

i use about 6 tbsps per 5 gal and that gets the salinity to about 1.005 - 1.008, which is a low end brackish tank.

I dont understand what you mean by "low end."

[GermanMusician]

I keep fiddler crabs in a brackish aquarium, and I read that you put about 1 tbsp per gallon, which is what I did. I do not have a hydrometer, so I have no idea what the salinity is, but the crabs seem to be doing fine.
I also attempted to keep a mystery snail, before figuring out that they will not live in brackish waters. Mine died in a matter of about a day, maybe even a matter of a few hours.
However, if you are interested in keeping ghost shrimp, they do rather well... and my crabs seem too slow (and disinterested in any food source) to catch them. The shrimp were meant to be a source of calcium, but they just turned out as a few really cool-looking pets.

Good luck!

[cocoa_pleco]

low end means less salt than high end

[Treerat]

low end means less salt than high end
Aaahhhh.... so you'd say that 1.005 is low end and 1.010 is high end since according to my PHD on call says twice as much salt?

[Treerat]

Ok... i got a bonehead question. in the badman linked BW set up page they recommend sand like the type you get for sand boxes and playgrounds. Basically beach sand. But it makes the water very murky. how do you contend with that, besides having lots of patience. Does one run the filter and bubbler or not? Or does one let is settle on its own? Or do water changes until it clear up?

[Kaga's Kritters]

it will settle on its own, usually doesnt take too long....a few days maybe

[Treerat]

it will settle on its own, usually doesnt take too long....a few days maybe
but should i run the filter and bubbler?

[Treerat]

This is my new 20g BW tank... the reef-like rock pile with one stonefish and two waspfish...

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

This is my 29g BW tank... with one fat Spotted Green Puffer and one Marbled Sand Goby...

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[GermanMusician]

As far as the cloudiness goes, I have an underwater that has seemed to help out with that, but my problem is that I bought some clay-sand for reptiles. It worked great if I wanted to make land formations, but......

Next time, you can always try rinsing the sand before putting it in the tank... Other than that, I don't really know what to do other than wait for it to settle.

Good luck!

[Treerat]

As far as the cloudiness goes, I have an underwater that has seemed to help out with that, but my problem is that I bought some clay-sand for reptiles. It worked great if I wanted to make land formations, but......

Next time, you can always try rinsing the sand before putting it in the tank... Other than that, I don't really know what to do other than wait for it to settle.

Good luck!
It settled and is clear as a crystal and the three fish are happy campers. thanx :-)