New to brackish - 29g tank questions

elizabeth0321

elizabeth0321

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Apr 6, 2008
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I’m setting up my first brackish 29g tank. I’m planning on getting one GSP. So far I have is the tank filled with conditioned water. From the research I’ve done on this site I’m planning on getting an AquaClear HOB filter, I would eventually like to go to SW when the puffer will tolerate it so I can get a protein skimmer and live rock. I plan on taking my sweet time setting up the tank before I get my fish. Being my first attempt I want to get the chemistry down before I add my puffer.

Honestly I’m a little daunted by the water changes and maintenance routine… I’m an experienced pet owner I know how much time exotic pets can require, and as I said this is my first brackish/marine attempt. I understand the importance of the water changes and am willing to commit the time it will take for weekly maintenance. My fear is that that with all the water changes I will have difficulty maintaining the chemical balance. Are GSP’s a little ambitious for a first attempt?
 
No, you should be fine. Once you get into the routine, you'll think back and wonder, "what the heck was I so worried about?" What I find easy for my sw and bw tanks is premixing the water. I have a 20gal trashcan that I bought. When I'm done with my water changes for the week, I refill it back up and add the salt in. There's a powerhead in it for mixing the water. I usually let it mix for 24 hours, then go back and check the SG and adjust accordingly. Uhnfortunately it still means I have to carry buckets, but its not too bad. If I was really ambitious I'd buy a pump for the tank and a long hose, and just pump the water over to the tank.

Make sure you get the tank cycled before you add the fish as well...if your LFS keeps brackish tanks, you can ttry to get some seeded filter media, otherwise I highly recommend a fishless cycle to get things started.
 
Fishless cycle at the specific gravity the fish you are interested in are being kept at in the shop.
 
I checked out the two LFS's in my area, they both have GSP's but neither store new the exact SG of the tank! The first store I went to had about 10 in a 55g tank, she said she just "dumps some salt in there" so she doesn't know the exact SG. She also said I could keep two in a 10g tank, so I just left. I can't imagine her fish are too healthy with that treatment.

The next and last store didn't know either, but he checked it for me and it was 1.017. He also gave me some misinformation, saying all I have to feed it was bloodworms.

So I bought some maine salt, a hydrometer and a test kit. I will bring it up to 1.017 and start my fishless cycle. (The store recommended I buy feeder fish but I declined). He did talk me into buying some stress zyme that he said would help cycle the tank. I'm not sure if I should get squeezings from a filter from the shop or can I do a fishless cycle with just the pure ammonia?
 
You can do both - the fishless cycle is of course a good idea, but adding the filter squeezings will speed up the process considerably. Stress-zyme won't help. Adding Bio-spira would, if you can get it and the LFS keeps it refrigerated, but the raw bacteria from the filter would be the best bet.
 
If the fish is a juvie, I'd cycle at around 1.008-10 & drip-acclimate the puffer to that. No reason to waste all that salt, keeping it so high. You're going to have problems finding bacteria for a tank at 1.017, unless you use some of their substrate, then you can lower the SG weekly.
 
I do have an established freshwater aquarium... what if I added bacteria from it and slowly increased the salinity? I only have a hydrometer so is it too risky that I might over increase the salinity and kill the bacteria?
 
It can work, I think the recommended rate is raise it by .002 per day? You'll still have to be adding ammonia as well to keep the bacteria alive.
 
Will the tank cycle if I do ammonia only, with no bacteria starters?
 
Yes, it will just take longer (up to 6-8 weeks compared to maybe a week).
 
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