New to this brackish stuff...

[b_rob]

Alright this will be my first go at a brackish set up. I have a 29 gallon tank. I like live plants, (any recomendations?) and would like a large center piece of driftwood. First and foremost, is this even a good idea? Also the filter is an emporer penguin my friend used on an overstocked cichlid tank. Should I replace the biowheel, or filter cartridges, or should I use them for cycling purposes? Should I use a powerhead? I think I'm gunna use straight sand for the subtrate, but I might mix in a little bit of ecocomplete or flourite for asthetic purposes, and for the good of the plants. Good idea, or bad idea?

now... how much salt do I add, and, from reading on here it looks like I need marine salt. The girl at petco (I know I know...) said to just use aquarium salt. So which is it, and, how do I figure out the gravity? I don't even know what I'm talking about so any info on this would be good.

The fish I'm lookin to get are 1 GSP, 3 bumble bee gobies, and I would like to get some sort of eel or loach or something but I can't find anything that'll fit in a 29, and do well with salt. I'd also be open to suggestions about algea eaters, some sort of nifty pleco, loaches, invertabre, or anything else that stands out from the pack.

If you have any other info that you feel that I should absolutely be aware of before diving into this please let me know. Thanks

[TheOldSalt]

Well, you're really heading for a big headache with your current plans. Driftwood, plants, ecocomplete... these things don't work well with brackish tanks, nor do most loaches and plecos. The driftwood will work as long as you are able to compensate for it's effects on the water.

You need a thing called a Hydrometer ( or a refractometer ) to tell how salty your water is. You want a specific gravity around 1.010.

As for plants, you'll have your best luck if you collect plants already in brackish water. If you live in Kansas or something, however, then get plants from another brackish tank.

You can keep using the same filter if you wish, but it wil be stunted for awhile until it shifts it's gears for brackishwater

[Scuba Kid]

Well for a brackish tank, you will need marine salt and a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity. This is why you don't listen to petco people.

The amount of salt will depend greatly on what you wish to keep. IMO, brackish water has the ability to vary more greatly than freshwater as the amount of salt can change to house what you are looking for, and in the wild the amount of salt fluctuates daily. First of all, a 29 gallon is not large enough for a full grown green spotted puffer and they do not usually tolerate tankmates. On top of this, they are full marine fish as adults. I don't suggest a GSP for the tank setup you have in mind.
As for plants, you will need to look for some that will live in brackish water.
Check this link out: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishS...bracplants.htm

Here's a great article with info on brackish fish. Read through the different species for ideas on what will work in your setup as well as what interests you. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishS...rlvstk_sel.htm

Good luck.

[poopadadoop]

brackish....... thats a fun word to say................. sorry that wAS RANDOM, i shut up now....

[Scuba Kid]

Please refrain from posting completely meaningless and pointless things. Especially in old threads...

Around here, we call that spamming.

[poopadadoop]

fine. i will stop, just calm down.