help with brackish plants

[taureandragon76]

I am having a helluva time getting plants to grow in my brackish setup of 1.005sg. I have an empty 40g tank and was wondering if it would be a good idea to acclimatize the plants in there to the salt for the main tank? I plan on mainly sticking with just Java ferns as it is a fairly low light tank. How long should I take to acclimatize the plants in the 40g? How often should I raise the SG?

Any help and suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated as I am getting prett tired of the plastic plants lol.

[cobra1713]

with the SG being only 1.005 i dont think acclimation should be a big deal, if you are going to do it then i would just raise it like .002 a week like you would a marine tank. or you could try drip acclimating them like a fish?

do you have a co2 on the tank? or can you add co2 to a brakish tank? i have no idea

and what kind of lighting are you using? and how long of a photoperiod?

[nmonks]

The art to growing plants in a brackish water aquarium is to provide them with excellent conditions so the salt doesn't upset them too much. Most people provide only marginal conditions for their plants, e.g., poor substrate (plain gravel!) and not enough lighting. But if your brackish tank has a good substrate -- I find aquatic soil topped with silica sand works great -- and then you provide at least 2 watts per gallon lighting, the plants should be fine. Start them off in freshwater or SG 1.003. Most brackish water fish will be fine in freshwater for a few months, and low-end species like Tetraodon biocellatus could be maintained at SG 1.003 permanently for all the difference it would make.

Do also consider getting plants known to occur in brackish water in the wild. There's quite a long list beyond Java ferns (which, to be honest, I've never had much success with). Known brackish water denizens include Bacopa monnieri, Cryptocoryne ciliata, Crinum calamistratum, and Vallisneria americana; these should be fine up to SG 1.005. Most hard water tolerant aquarium plants will do well at SG 1.003 so by all means experiment with Vallisneria, Anubias, Cryptocoryne wendtii and so on. I keep a list of plants that I know do well on my FAQ.

Cheers, Neale

[taureandragon76]

The thing is with this tank it used to be my planted community tank and with the same light, I had no problems growing plants at all. The only difference now is the salt. In the brackish tank I have some java that has lived but it seems to be stunted and just not growing much at all.

[Iliveinazoo]

The thing is with this tank it used to be my planted community tank and with the same light, I had no problems growing plants at all. The only difference now is the salt. In the brackish tank I have some java that has lived but it seems to be stunted and just not growing much at all.

Are you adding ferts?
My LFS doesn't have much of a range when it comes to plants and ferts and only sells Tetra gear, I've got a 2cm layer of Tetra substrate (not needed with java ferns because the roots have to be above the substrate) under sand, during water changes i dose 5ml Tetra Plantamin for every 10 litres in and an extra 5ml 1/2 way through the week. I use the Tetra DIY CO2-Depot and add the CO2 once a day.
With this regime the java fern, java moss, bacopa monnieri and Apongenton Crispus are doing very well.

I have a java fern in a really low light tank and only dose the Plantamin and its still healthy, you just have to clean the algae off it every now and then.

My salinity is around 1.006 and every plant i've put in has been mail ordered, come from freshwater and has been put straight into the tank without acclimatisation

[taureandragon76]

Thanks for the info:D