Acclimating plants to BW tank

[gerbilfat]

Hello!

I read a bit back and didn't see a topic about this, so sorry if it's a repeat! I have a 30gal BW tank at about 1.014sg that I'd love to plant. The tank originally started many moons ago as a FW tank. Of course all of the original plants couldn't tolerate the salt and slowly had to be removed, except for some java ferns and a marimo (which surprisingly is doing quite well?). The substrate is aragonite sand. I had a single dwarf puffer in the tank when it was freshwater for about 5 years, and when she unfortunately passed on, I got a GSP to go in there, instead. (This tank will be replaced with a larger one soon, looking at 75+ gal replacement )

I've thought about taking a hydrometer/refractometer down to a local bayou or delta along with a bucket and net to collect some native plants. I'm in Florida and there's all sorts of marshy areas around here with plants, but I'm afraid that doing this will introduce disease into my fishtank. None of the fish stores around here sell plants that are already acclimated.

There's a lot of incomplete/conflicting information online about which plants are suitable for BW. The java ferns that were originally in the tank tolerated the change over quite well, but nothing else really did. Are there any plants suitable for the specific gravity of my tank and if so, how would I go about acclimating them? I have a spare 10gal that could be setup with a light and bubbler for some drip acclimation, but there wouldn't be much point if nothing will tolerate the salinity level.

Fake plants are a last resort but that'll have to happen if I can't figure out a solution with real live plants for my puffhaus.

[Pufferpunk]

You are smart in your concern about introducing pathogens to your fish, by collecting locally. My best suggestion to you is try marine plants. Different colors of macro-algae can look pretty cool! You're only a few points away from SW now, why not go full SW & then you can add live rock & sand & have a VERY interesting tank?

[genevieve]

You could look into getting mangroves!

[TheStig]

Not much help w/ brackish plants... actually, plants period! I just wanted to say, I love your avatar!!! And ur puffer's name! It cracked me up.

Oh, and welcome to TPF!

[itlagswrx]

I agree with PP... There's a lot of stuff to choose from with FW and SW.... but not so much in-between. I have one GSP in full marine; they do well in it. I would go that route in all honesty. I stayed backing like... one week lol.

[gerbilfat]

Thank you for all the replies!

I didn't realize how close my tank is to saltwater until Pufferpunk mentioned it... Keeping brackish for the past year has been a big pain in the butt - it's hard to find information online and LFSs don't seem to stock stuff for brackish water. I'd love to have lush, rich jungles in my brackish puffhaus that are the same as what's in my freshwater tanks, but it seems like that might not be possible. Marine almost seems like it would be a lot easier?

I've been afraid to take the leap because I've never kept a marine tank before in 15+ years of fishkeeping. If I mess up, my fish could get sick, or worse... :< But man you guys are right, there's tons of cool stuff available for marine tanks and so many weird shrimps I could get for them!

The full picture from my avatar is here! Honeybell is the fish on the right and it's basically the happiest fish ever, they're the best and do a little food dance every morning. I had dwarf puffs for a while and there's a drawing of those guys, too.

[TheStig]

*dies*

Haha! That is SO CUTE!

Sorry if I am overstepping boundaries in this topic, Admin, but cld u email me (ecobirdlove [at] yahoo [dot] com) abt the possibility of my purchasing a print of the DP from you?!!

Thanks!

[Iliveinazoo]

Thank you for all the replies!

I didn't realize how close my tank is to saltwater until Pufferpunk mentioned it... Keeping brackish for the past year has been a big pain in the butt - it's hard to find information online and LFSs don't seem to stock stuff for brackish water. I'd love to have lush, rich jungles in my brackish puffhaus that are the same as what's in my freshwater tanks, but it seems like that might not be possible. Marine almost seems like it would be a lot easier?

I've been afraid to take the leap because I've never kept a marine tank before in 15+ years of fishkeeping. If I mess up, my fish could get sick, or worse... :< But man you guys are right, there's tons of cool stuff available for marine tanks and so many weird shrimps I could get for them!

The full picture from my avatar is here! Honeybell is the fish on the right and it's basically the happiest fish ever, they're the best and do a little food dance every morning. I had dwarf puffs for a while and there's a drawing of those guys, too.

There's a good looking 'planted' marine tank here:
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... p?sid=3725

The article doesn't seem to go into much detail about the species of macro-algae used but I'm sure that there are a few species out there that would work in a tank environment. I think that I would give seaweed and sea-grass a go if I ever went to the salty side.

[luigimbu]

Get yourself a protein skimmer raise the salinity to 1.023 and you can put all kinds of macro algaes and live rock In the tank it's looks good and the macro algae and skimmer keep the water tip top.I did this with my gsp he loved it especially grazing on whatever he could find on the live rock.

[Pufferpunk]

1.020 will do.

[Hillehaus]

Once you get a skimmer up and running and some cured live rock in the tank, there isn't much more maintenance than what you are doing now. You're still doing water changes, but, not as frequently. You're still topping off your water with RODI water to combat evaporation. You're still mixing salt batches.

Going saltwater in the long run will likely save you some money...eventually...starting up is expensive. Just don't get the catch coral bug and you'll be fine. If you do decide to go with a reef tank, God help you.

[Pufferpunk]

What's wrong with a reef tank???
Other than the $$$ corals...

[luigimbu]

Yes 1.020 will do but if you want anyhting to live on the live rock a little higher is better for inverts.
My gsp ended up in a full reef tank he loved it and he didn't bother snails or hermit crabs which was good.my pocket didn't like it tho!
So yeah don't catch the coral bug unless you have lots of money and time.