Mio Primo Salmastro (My First Brackish)

DarkEntity · Post by **DarkEntity** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:37 pm

I dont think the wood looks right, id have that in the left corner then fiddle with the rock in the centre.

andy198712 · Post by **andy198712** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:43 pm

can you not rest the rock on its side propped up by two smaller rocks to make a cave sort of thing?

looks like it will flake if you drill it

gsolman6 · Post by **gsolman6** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:24 pm

Thanks Andy and Darkentitiy. I wasn't happy with the config. either. The big rock is too damn dense to drill so right now its relatively flat base and the gravel conspire to hold it up. I moved the fake roots to partially conceal the mason jar cave. New pre-made cave added to back left.

I've been reading that Bumblebee gobies requiere a lot of caves/hiding places so that it my next objective. Would 6 Bumblebees require 6 different hideouts? Would the Bumblebees be annoyed with all the lighting(130w for 55g)? I've heard some brackish fish don't like a lot of light - would this include the BB gobies?

I took some inspiration from Puffer-Mike and his planted brackish tank of the month and added some Java Fern which will be followed by Anubias.

Man the Eheim 2224 is quiet, quiet. Its my first canister and I'm impressed.

DarkEntity · Post by **DarkEntity** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:08 pm

much much better

andy198712 · Post by **andy198712** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:19 pm

i like that set up i'll try get pics of my double cave i made

indie · Post by **indie** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:32 pm

well i cant give u much advice, but i love the cave idea, looks awsome! will have to try that when i switch to sand!

crazy loaches · Post by **crazy loaches** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:41 pm

gsolman6 wrote: I've been reading that Bumblebee gobies requiere a lot of caves/hiding places so that it my next objective. Would 6 Bumblebees require 6 different hideouts? Would the Bumblebees be annoyed with all the lighting(130w for 55g)? I've heard some brackish fish don't like a lot of light - would this include the BB gobies?

Thats what they say. But since getting some Bees myself I must say that I dont often see them hiding. I provided many hiding spots, propping pices of rift rock up, have lots of natural caves in the driftwood, and the sugar-sized aragonite sand is loose enough they could make a cave under anything if they wanted. But instead they are usually out and about, despite the presence of 3 puffers, even resting on the tank glass at the top nearer the lights, or on the top of the driftood. I have 130W CF daylight (with mirrored reflectors) over 45G tank. The puffers moved from a 40G with a simple twin tube shoplight with GE plant and aquarium bulbs (very dull) and they are more lively in my new setup so hopefully they dont mind the bright light either.

Apocalyptictoast · Post by **Apocalyptictoast** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:51 am

My BB gobies never hide much either. They have multiple hiding spots but I always see them about and about. I'm sure its not a bad idea though.

gsolman6 · Post by **gsolman6** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:32 am

Thank you all for the encouragement. On a side note it makes me mad to hear that the aragonite I used was possibly illegally obtained:

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressRele ... 08-04.html

Well looks like the BB Gobies are next after the cycling is done. I was going to consider Orange Chromides but I don't think any Austin LFSs carry them. I was thinking of waiting a bit after the BBs have settled in before introducing the F8. My backup plan is to move the BBs to the 65g freshwater community at least temporarily if the puffer gets too homicidal with them. I was going to get two F8s but then I read that article "Alone but not lonely...." which states:

"As a general rule, most Puffers will live a healthier, happier, less stressful life if there are no other Puffers in their territory."

I guess "territory" is a term that could mean different things in different situations(tank size, species, decor, etc.).

manutius · Post by **manutius** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:03 pm

Thats looking pretty good, but I would put the root on the left hand side and build the picutre from there.

Have a look here for some basic ideas and go to aquascaping

http://www.ecoaquariums.co.uk

gsolman6 · Post by **gsolman6** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:03 pm

manutius: that link didn't work for me.

Hmmm, maybe switch the position of the lg. rock and the roots. I guess the luxury of waiting a few weeks to cycle is you can try out all these things.

I did find some Chromides in Austin, but the shop couldn't confirm if they were the Orange variety. Maybe I better start speaking latin names to them to clear this up. That thread on brackish hermit crabs also got me thinking about one of those too.

manutius · Post by **manutius** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:13 am

Yeah sorry the site seems to be down, if you go to my other forum and join and check out the Articles section, in the plants sub topic you will find the Aquascaping article by Jim, the author of that site and our plant Guru

gsolman6 · Post by **gsolman6** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:44 pm

Changes since last check in:

- added powerhead to back left to complement outflow from Eheim at front right

- added some aquarium water from my community tank

- added Vals, Cabomba(Carolina fanwort I think), and onion plant

The vals are in pure aragonite and onion plant is in aragonite/laterite blend
I'm not sure if 100% aragonite is a good plant substrate though.

- added a dose of FloraPlan b/c some of the Anachris(since removed) was looking pale

Test results:

Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <.25
Ammonia: betwen 0 to 0.25
pH: 7.8

SG is still zero and temp is 77F. No sign of algae so far - I was scared of introducing it by using another aquarium's water.

I was thinking of getting some more test kits like Phosphate or GH. Also need a new set of legs for my light, a clip for the powerhead, and carbon and fine pads for the Eheim. Maybe then a CO2 system or reactor.

DarkEntity · Post by **DarkEntity** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:10 pm

Any update on this, hows it progressing?

gsolman6 · Post by **gsolman6** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:54 pm

Yuck! I got green algae and a tiny bit of the darker variety (BGA?) My water parameters are almost there so I will be buying some Bumble Bees soon if I don't get sidetracked by the Red Chromides that is.

I do have all this white silt-like material at the water surface that I've never seen before on my FW. Maybe it is residue from the aragonite. I just reaim the powerhead to break it all down once per day but it is perplexing.

I'm thinking of taking out the artificial roots to make a more wide open aquaspace. Since I will probably only have one F8 I don't have the issue of sightlines to worry about.

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