Mio Primo Salmastro (My First Brackish)

[gsolman6]

I was gonna put one or two F8s plus gobies, mollies, or chromides in this 55g.
Got an Eheim 2224, 130w w/ lunar, aragonite/seachem marine, heater, refractometer, and salt.

I plan to make this a planted tank even if that means CO2, supplements, and experimenting with different species. I will have to find a way to secure that rock I found at a local park. I have slate that I could couple with some brass screws to make a base.

Any suggestions welcome.

[Pufferpunk]

You'll have to chose whether you want a BW tank or a nice-looking planted tank. There are very few nice-looking plants that will thrive in BW.

[Fella]

You'll have to chose whether you want a BW tank or a nice-looking planted tank. There are very few nice-looking plants that will thrive in BW.

I disagree - there are literally dozens of plants that will thrive in Brackish water- http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/ ... tml#plants

[gsolman6]

Hopefully I can use 3 or 4 of the ones that Neale Monks suggested or from this list:

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.php?category=8

One of the reasons I picked an F8 was b/c it was low end brackish, hence more plant choices. Of course nice looking plants is in the eye of the beholder, but just maybe there are some ones I can grow to like - in my case Anacharis was an example of this.

That tall rock is really hard to drill into using masonry bits so I may have to use aquarium sealant to glue it to the slate.

[gsolman6]

Gonna add the tall rock later. Supposedly large masses/depths of substrate can be anaerobic so I might take out the hill at some time.

[gsolman6]

Added the mason jar "cave."

[crazy loaches]

I was toying with co2 in my brackish plant tank, as far as I am aware no one has done pressurized co2 in brackish (but I am sure someone must have, I am just not aware of it). I am just not sure that Excel is cutting it in my tank, and you cant grow some brackish plants with it, like jungle val. I am seriously thinking about going pressurized now that I have a canister but I am not sure about the aragonite substrate, it may try to dissolve the coral and the hardness might shoot through the roof?

[gsolman6]

Crazy: I'm inclined to CO2, especially the low cost DIY 2 liter coke bottle types. Your planted brackish isn't so large that this wouldn't be an option. I have no idea about the aragonite/coral dissolving - how would that happen?

[gsolman6]

Added large rock w/o base(but it needs one). Trying to think what else to add decoration-wise but nothing is coming to me. Next comes water, heater install, plants and possible CO2 generating device.

[manutius]

Looking good, what about a nice piece of mangrove root or resin root mass?

[crazy loaches]

Crushed coral has been used as a carbonate buffer in CO2 injected plant tanks. It dissolves, releasing carbonate into the tank as the ph lowers and becomes acidic (this is what happens when CO2 is injected). The problem is that as it dissolves it releases a whole bunch of other things into the tank, making the hardness (GH) sky high. I am guessing aragonite is pretty much what folks are talking about when they say 'crushed coral'.

If I do CO2 it'll be pressurized. DIY is a huge hassle, difficult to get consistency, and can actually cost more in the long run. Its good to get your feet wet with, but once youve done pressurized you never look back

[gsolman6]

Crazy: what do you think of these systems for CO2?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 923+113933
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 923+113933

Manutuis: I was thinking of this knowing that brackish will probably rot any real wood. Petsmart actually has a good selection:

http://www.petsmart.com/global/search/s ... =roots&N=2

I think the ones with all the roots would be interesting from an F8's perspective.

[Myaj]

Gsolman, I love the cave idea! I think I'm going to try that but pile up river rocks instead of buring it in sand. Very cool looking.

[crazy loaches]

Hmm, I didnt realize that wood will rot in brackish... I have several peices of driftwood in mine for a few years. So far so good.

That first link to Dr.F&S kit is popular over on the planted tank forum. I got a JBJ regulator combo it was cheap (in line with the dr's) and works well enough. here is my setup on my freshwater tank: http://tristan.homelinux.net/fish/co2.htm

Just remember you still need the CO2 tank and have it filled. I got my 15# tank from the local welding and gas supplier - w/ food grade co2, between the tank, the fill, the fees, I think it was a little under $100. I figure the whole setup was around $200 I put together. I personaly dont like the ph controllers for co2, many have had problems. The thing is that other things affect your ph, not just co2, so you have to keep things like KH very stable. Its also 1 more point of electronic failure and has caused catastrophic losses in some tanks (since with the controller people usually crank the actual co2 output sky high since the controller will only turn it on as needed).

[gsolman6]

I got a fake piece of wood from Petsmart, just not sure if I got the right one for the tank's feng shui. I did like the one big piece of diaganolly-place wood almost spanning the length of Crazy Loach's brackish tank. The smaller rock is now embedded in the hill, though the glare in in pix makes it hard to appreciate.

I may hold off a bit on C02 in order to gauge the needs of my tank's plant life.
Maybe start a graduated process leading off with Excel, then DIY CO2, then semi-automatic, then fully automatic, etc.


[/img]