Help with starting to salt water

[TheProfessor]

Hey all, for sometime now i have kept tropical fish and i think its time to take the plunge! ekkk

first off I did loads of research and am looking at two things, first is brackish water, I have ordered a F8 puffer fish however have been slightly unlucky, he is due to arrive at the fish shop on saturday but my tank delivery was put back from last week to 2 weeks time :/
but its ok i have a 10gallon on hand always with a male betta and a plec in to ensure the bacteria is alive its been this way for sometime now this tank and both fish have survived fine, i think its been like this for 2 1/2months now so will my F8 which i have been told will be aclimitised to FW be ok in here for a few weeks?
i know how to change it to BW, but i have excess amounts of snails in this tank, will they survive in brackish water, i have a mix of ramshorn and a slightly larger snail which i cant remember the name off, so will they be ok in brackish or will they die? i can move them to another tank but i am just curious.


TMC Microhabitat 15 - does anyone have an reviews on this product or one similar also? i have considered two options for this as i would like to experiment with SW, whilst i know its harder to keep smaller tanks i want to try this first to see if i can cope with SW rather than buy another huge tank and not be able to manage it :/
so i have considered just keeping some corals and invertebrates in it or keeping just dwarf seahorse in it. however wanted peoples reviews on this first to see peoples thoughts?

finally whats better, a hydrometer or a refractometer?

thanks in advance

[Blaine]

Let me start first with your last...

Refractometer is best....a little more expensive but much more accurate if you're going into SW.

IMO it is actually easier to start with a larger tank....larger water volumes are alot easier to keep stable...I'd suggest a 50-55 gal tank with 30 gal sump as your best choice for a 'starter' SW tank.

If the F8 is in FW then he should be fine in the 10 gal until the larger tank arrives,...however the betta and pleco may not be. Puffers are notoriously unpredictable and sometimes aggressive. Betta tails are an awfully attractive tidbit to a predator.

The concern is that your puffer will probably go after all of the snails it can catch,...which may lead to over-eating which can lead to health problems and water contamination. The ramshorn snails may be ok for a short while in low-end brackish water...the others will probably perish. Since you will need a continuous supply of snails for the puffer anyways, I suggest keeping them separate in FW.

Since you will need to remove the snails and other fish from the tank anyways...I suggest it would be easier for you to purchase another small tank (check online classifieds and/or CraigsList) to house the F8 in until your tank arrives. Either that or ask the store where you ordered the F8 from to hold it until your new tank arrives.

HTH

[Blaine]

I would also suggest that you start running the filter you have for the new F8 tank on your current tank to help seed it since you will have no time to cycle it properly.

Tetra Safestart has also been recommended on the forum (although I have never used it) for quick-starting a tank.

[TheProfessor]

ok refractometer it is
the betta won't be in there with him, he is only so i have that tank as a "just incase tank" always. So he willl be moved to the 4ft community tank until the puffers new tank is done, and if he is ok in FW for a small period of time i will just transfer the filters to the new tank so its already cycled and then just raise SG by .002 per week
ok thank you for snail info they will all be hunted best as possible to get them out
will my plants be ok in the brackish water? or are they going to be need to be moved?

and i know about the salt water, i am just slightly reluctant to spend alot of money on a large tank for if anything not to work and have wasted it....i was more hoping for a review just to see if people have had success keeping a nano/picto marine system to see results, but thank you very much blaine

[Blaine]

Keeping nano/pico tanks are definitely possible...it's just the smaller the volume of water, the harder it is to keep it balanced. SW tanks can be a bit more demanding as to the parameters than FW, which is a little more forgiving. IMO it is easier to be successful with a medium size SW tank than a nano/pico.

Some plants do o.k. in low-end BW (java fern, water sprite) but the majority will not thrive. I would move them to the other tank.

Good luck

[Pufferpunk]

If you're getting a refractometer (I recommend Ebay), buy the Pinpoint calibration solution too.

[TheProfessor]

Ok cheers for the info guys/gals
I will post again if I have any other questions
Thank you very much so far