high end brackish water needs

[kpjenk21]

i was wondering if i started increasing brackish water, at what point (sg) will a hang on back filter not work? or will it work in high brackish/amlost marine conditions? if i get to that point (high end brackish/almost marine) what extra things will i need for my tank? (i.e protein skimmers, live rock, etc) and is this stuff necessary? in my mind i would just keep running my hang on back filter and just increase salinity to whatever marine is and leave it at that. i guess i'm asking what's the highest salinity (sg) i can run without needing marine tank stuff (sumps, live rock, protien skimmers, etc.)

[Terrance]

You can run your tank until with the HOB filter FW, BW, and SW. In FW settings, we do 50% water changes every week. Many of the SW folks try to prolong the water changes to every 2-3 weeks because salt is expensive. You want all the extra stuff for SW to help reduce the frequency of water changes and/or improve water quality in between water changes.

A protein skimmer is highly recommended when you are in marine conditions.

[Pufferpunk]

HOB filters continue to work in SW but bare nitrate factories which means 50% WC are necessary weekly, to reduce nitrate. PITA, considering all you have to do is remove it & add live rock, good flow & a protein skimmer...

[kpjenk21]

so it's really easier to just add some live rock and install a protein skimmer, rather than keep it the way it is and constantly have to worry about Nitrates?

[J-P]

yes and no... you can add live rock rubble to the HOB, but the salt spray is a major PITA to deal with.

So yes it can work. No, using an HOB in SW, is not advised

[kpjenk21]

then what is used if HOB isn't advised? is that where sumps come in?

[J-P]

sumps, skimmers and or canister filters.

[Nuclear_Glitter]

So people just run a hang on back skimmer, add 1.5-2 pounds of liverock per gallon, and add some powerheads. Not everyone runs a sump. It really depends on your tank size, and inhabitants.

[RVS]

Proteins skimmer + External Canister filter + Live rock and some chaeto gives me a good result for 2 GSP in 1.020.

[Pufferpunk]

Canister does the same thing (holding nitrate) as a FW HOB filter. NIMFT!

[kpjenk21]

thanks for the replies! i checked my salinity and it's 1.020 sg which is where i want it. going off of what was said about Nitrates, i checked them and sure enough Nitrates were elevated, although not too severe and Ammonia was really low almost 0. My issue is that i don't want to have to get into all that goes with a marine tank, but keep salinity where it's at. so i went out and got some Aragonite substrate to put in that would help with Nitrates as well as water conditioner i would use when doing water changes that helps with ammonia, nitrates as well as help out with the fact i'm not using filtered water (i'm on a well system so it's not chlorinated like "city water") but still would condition the water in any case. i've been keeping an eye on health issues with the fish due to the foremetioned water parameters being high and have not seen any signs of stress or health problems, still happy i'm just going through all this to prevent it from happening at some point in the future, since i'm kind of going against the grain with my setup.

[RTR]

Any bacterial nitrification unit generates nitrate. That is what they do. They do not "hold" nitrate, they generate it in the process of nitrification (oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate). Without some technique for removing nitrogenous waste, the water in a tank rapidly becomes toxic to the critters housed there.

Only at full marine salinity can you easily support live rock in sufficient quantity to do both nitrification and denitification. Denitrification is the reduction of nitrate to nitrite, nitrite to ammonium, and ammonium yo nitrogen gas.

DSB and plenums and veggie filters can also denitrify, but are slower to establish than is cured live rock. They are not quite as fast in responding to bioload changes as is live rock. They are however useable in FW, BW below full marine conditions, and in full marine conditions.

HTH

[Pufferpunk]

i don't want to have to get into all that goes with a marine tank, but keep salinity where it's at.

Then expect to be doing 50% WC on that tank for the life of the fish. Very $$$... I do 30% every 3 weeks on my SW tanks with LR & protein skimmer.

[kpjenk21]

well if LR and a protien skimmer is all i need that would save me from having to frequent 50% wc, than that sounds like a reasonable thing i could do, i was thinking it was more complicated than that. is there anything special i need to know about a protien skimmer when i go to get one? how about LR? any type of acclimation or quarentine time needed?

[kpjenk21]

so i have my protein skimmer hooked up and running. i do not have any LR yet though, should i still run my HOB filter until i get some? the protein skimmer isn't disturbing the water too much either, so should i put my power head in? the protein skimmer is an Aquaticlife mini skimmer for 30 gal tank.