ok
Can someone please answer my questions?
we first off calmate cabron
secondly you would be suprised what is brackish fish
.
mollies, platties, guppies, endlers are all self sustaining stocking choices for your tank. *personally i have silver lyretail mollies 1 male 2 females*
ghost shrimps are also brackish compatable and will breed in said tank
*i got two slutty ones preggo at the moment who just had their last brood eaten by filter*
as far as what is brackish
"brackish water is in between salt ocean water and fresh water generally starting at 1.005 and stopping at 1.020ish (salt water level)"
you accomplish the above by useing ocean water or instand ocean *yup dehydrated water* only salt water for marine use.
brackish is not just a teaspoon or so of table salt or epsom salt or kosher salt or cooking sea salt or aquarium salt or tonic salt.
brackish is actually salted water not just extra hard water.
you will need either a refractometer or a hydrometer that starts at 1.000 and goes up to sea strenght *my first one started at sea water that sucked*
you will need to do every thing you do for a fresh water tank *cycle clean stock right feed top off water lever and regular water changes*
when you do your weekly or biweekly water changes you need to remove the old water and and in new brackish water premixed to your tanks S.G. level *sg is the number that your saltyness is at on your hydrometer*
when you are topping off from evaporation you use fresh water since salt doesn't evaporate but water does. so adding salty water to top off from evaporation will just add that much more salt and some times that is not good.
if you use gravel make sure it is safe for marine and fresh water.
infact every thing you use should be billed as being safe for fresh or sea water.
if you use sand then that is fine. follow regular guidelines for sand.
unless your tank is high end brackish above 1.012 sg you don't need or won't find a protein skimmer as useful or so THEY say.
if your tank is new try to find some used filter gunk from another brack tank to start your cycle if you have an existing fresh tank then you can slowly raise your SG by 0.002 each week till you are at desired level.
any fish you buy in fresh water will need to be acclimated to your salt level before you drop them in. drip method works well. *i prefer to do it over the course of 2 weeks qt but that is just me* 8 -12 hours is i believe a good time for drip acclimation. some people just dump with no problems.
oh yeah plants
java moss
java fern
anubius
bannana plant
water onion
watersprite
micro sword
varnsinilla
moss balls
are all reported to work in brack tanks mostly at less than 1.010
at 1.010 supposedly
java fern
java moss
mangrove trees *these are real trees though*
at above 1.010
mangroves
algae
if you have deep mature sand:
sea grasses
most sea grasses i have read about require very mature sand and at least 6 inches depth of it.