Cycling a Brackish Tank

[Sploke]

The sponge for biomedia would be fine. Are you going to have the other tank running still when you set up the 55? If not, you can just take the filter off the other tank and run it on the 55 along with whatever filter you plan on using on the 55 long term. This would work even better, and you could probably skip the whole cycle process.

 

[mlefessler]

I wish I could put the other filter on the 55 when I set it up - but there's fish in there.
If I were to do that method, I wouldn't be able to add fish right away, would I?

 

[Sploke]

In your 10gal tank, the SG is 1.010 and thats the only fish in the tank, right? If so, Fill the 55 with water at 1.010, take the filter from the 10 and put it on the 55, put the puffer in, and set up the new filter for the 55. Let the small one run for 2 weeks before you take it off, by then the other filter should be fully colonized.

 

[mlefessler]

Ahhh, excellent. That would work so perfectly. Ah, now I'm stoked and can't WAIT to get this going! =D

Thank you sooo much for answering all my newbie questions! =)

 

[Sploke]

Hey no problem, glad to help. AFter you get the 55 set up, the next step should be drip-acclimating the other puffer to the higher SG....with enough structure they might be able to co-habituate. Then you can get the gourami into freshwater where it belongs.

 

[mlefessler]

Hello Sploke -

I just wanted to give you an update as far as the new tank goes!

55-gallon is picked up, filled, treated/salt added, warmed and now currently up and running. You can see the attached photos I snapped. =)

I added them two puffers (at the same time - as to introduce them in a completely different environment together - one at one end and the other at the opposite). I was really nervous about coming down the next morning and seeing the worst. However, as you can see from the photos, they seem to have established a level of tolerance of each other. They're only aggressive towards each other when comes to feeding - otherwise, they keep to themselves. *knock on wood* Whew!

I've got one 55-gallon filter hooked up and running, and then the other established filter. Will let that run for at least 3 weeks to a month. I do have another 55-gallon filter (both filters would be turning the tank over 10 times per hour). When I remove the smaller filter, would it be okay to put in the other filter (since the one should have obtained the bacteria)?

Moved the 20-gallon and re-established it as a freshwater tank. Moved the gourami in there, too. I drip-acclimated him into freshwater, but he's extremely dark and "stripey", and his spots are almost faded. He seemed to have done much better in the brackish environment (SG of approximately 1.006). Think he'll bounce back into being a freshwater fish?