Ok As you all know i am Obbessed with fish, 6 tanks running in my room and another setting waiting to be set up kinda proves that! Im seriosly considering a Brackish tank, i want a lil figure 8 puffer! he will be the only fish in the tank, its going to be a 10g tank. Im starting it for 2 reasons A) i love puffers and (B) i have a MASS AMOUNT of Ramshorn Snails, getting to be TOO MANY and BREEDING LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!! so i figure built in food source. but as always i have a few dumb questions. I know what Brackish is Slightly salt 1.009 SG etc etc etc what i need to know is this.

1) Do i set it up More like a SW tank IE live rock,Live Sand, Powerhead etc Or do i set it up more like a Freshwater with a HOB filter?

2) Useing Instant Ocean How Much Salt Per Gallon for Brackish? it says 1/2 cup per gallon for Full on Saltwater but doesnt say for Brackish?My Hydrometer broke so i cant really test.

3)Any Things i need to watch for or beware of in a brackish tank?

Im sure ill come up with more questions but thats it for now

I currently have a 20 gallon brackish tank, and I'm about to set up another one.  It's set up more like a freshwater tank.  It has a hang on the back filter and a sponge filter.  It has plastic plants, fake wood, and slate.  I had some pieces of coral in it, but they got covered with algae and yucky looking.  I recently switched over from regular gravel to sand.  I used some cichlid sand.  Either is fine.  I've read that real wood rots quickly in salt water, so I went with fake. 

To get ready for water changes, I mix up a gallon of water with a half cup of Instant Ocean and aerate it for a while.  Then I take out six gallons and replace it with the gallon of saltwater and five gallons of fresh.  I think my sg is around 1.004. 

Another thing to consider is that the filter bacteria are different in brackish water, or so I've read.  You'll also need to have the tank cycled before you put the puffer in.  The puffer I bought was kept in freshwater, so I put it in the tank and then slowly brought the water up to full brackish.  I added a little more salt with each water change until I was adding the full amount.  That's supposed to allow the 'brackish' bacteria time to colonize the filter.

schambers said :

I currently have a 20 gallon brackish tank, and I'm about to set up another one.  It's set up more like a freshwater tank.  It has a hang on the back filter and a sponge filter.  It has plastic plants, fake wood, and slate.  I had some pieces of coral in it, but they got covered with algae and yucky looking.  I recently switched over from regular gravel to sand.  I used some cichlid sand.  Either is fine.  I've read that real wood rots quickly in salt water, so I went with fake. 

To get ready for water changes, I mix up a gallon of water with a half cup of Instant Ocean and aerate it for a while.  Then I take out six gallons and replace it with the gallon of saltwater and five gallons of fresh.  I think my sg is around 1.004. 

Another thing to consider is that the filter bacteria are different in brackish water, or so I've read.  You'll also need to have the tank cycled before you put the puffer in.  The puffer I bought was kept in freshwater, so I put it in the tank and then slowly brought the water up to full brackish.  I added a little more salt with each water change until I was adding the full amount.  That's supposed to allow the 'brackish' bacteria time to colonize the filter.

Well Bottom is Aragonite Sand, i have some Live rock rubble in place, and i added the flake food to start the Cycle, as of now i have a heater and a powerhead in the tank i will add a HOB filter prolly next weekend(moneys real short this week due to the holiday) I am thinking the Puffers are kept in Brackish at the LFS in bryan but not sure not even really sure if they have any in stock(they did have) Ill be sure to ask if the water is Brackish or fresh before i just flop him in the tank lol. I plan on Acclimateing him at least 2 or 3 hours anyway just to be sure! Going with more of a Essuary type brackish set up, more rocky less Plants unless i can find a nice Mangrove or two (dont ask me why but i love those things) The way it looks now by the time the tank is Cycled and ready for him ill have like 1000 snails to feed him lol! Im serious there are Egg sacs EVERYWHERE in my tank, on the glass, on the caves, On the bottom of the tank! you would think someone fed my snails Viagra!

Vance, if you would like to get rid of some of those Rams horn snails, I'd like to take some off your hands for my Cichlid tank. I will be at the Jan meeting 

One thing I've learned about snails and my green spotted puffer, it doesn't eat all of the snail if it is too big.  The best snail size is about the size of the fish's eye.  The large snails just get partially eaten.  It eats enough to kill the snail and then the rest rots in the tank.

True brackish fish aclimate well to changes in salinity, because in the wild they are swimming around in water that changes salinity.  Two or three hours is great.  However, if you put a couple of your mollies in brackish water, you might lose them if you only acclimate a couple of hours.  If you acclimated them over a week or two, they would probably be fine and breed and live just fine.  I believe that the wild mollies are more adaptable to changes in salinity than the fancier ones.

schambers said :

One thing I've learned about snails and my green spotted puffer, it doesn't eat all of the snail if it is too big.  The best snail size is about the size of the fish's eye.  The large snails just get partially eaten.  It eats enough to kill the snail and then the rest rots in the tank.

True brackish fish aclimate well to changes in salinity, because in the wild they are swimming around in water that changes salinity.  Two or three hours is great.  However, if you put a couple of your mollies in brackish water, you might lose them if you only acclimate a couple of hours.  If you acclimated them over a week or two, they would probably be fine and breed and live just fine.  I believe that the wild mollies are more adaptable to changes in salinity than the fancier ones.

I took 2 mollies to Full saltwater in 2 hours, they did great until they found the powerhead and got stuck. Mollys are a great fish but a bit on the dumbside.

RJS8540 said :

Vance, if you would like to get rid of some of those Rams horn snails, I'd like to take some off your hands for my Cichlid tank. I will be at the Jan meeting 

I dont know if ill be able to make the meeting or not, moneys tight still due to the holidays. If i do make it ill be sure to bring some snails with me!