Brackish water setup

[Tom Perry]

So I went to my favorite Aquarium Shoppe today. I should be glad we still have one here and the big boxes haven’t taken that over or the evil Amazon anyway I saw some rather interesting fish, not puffers and I got to thinking you know I’ve done marine tanks years ago Primarily I’m a freshwater guy think that’s logical cause I’m away from oceans but I’ve been thinking about doing a brackish water tank . So here is my question do you freshwater bacteria to cycle it in then gradually raise the solidity up or do I bring you salty all the way up no animals in a tank of course, and start off with marine cycling bacteria that’s my question. Lies and when I asked, a reefer guy he explained that I should just get live rock but I really don’t want to do that. Something about unknown parasites in my glass box. I’m not comfortable with that unless you guys think it’s the best way to handle this. Looking forward to your always informed content, thank you

[AllFishNoBrakes]

For a hot minute I was thinking about hatching some brine shrimp, and then trying to raise a colony. I had the same question as you, in that I already have a cycled freshwater tank. I wasn’t sure if I should gradually increase the salinity, and hope that the freshwater bacteria gradually convert (or maybe not convert, but slowly die off and fuel the brackish/saltwater bacteria), or if I should just dump a bunch of marine salt in there and cycle a saltwater tank from scratch. 
 

Sorry I don’t have the answer. Just wanted to chime in that I’m curious as well!

[Biotope Biologist]

Neither. The bacteria you need will start forming on its own. Freshwater bacteria is not suited to any salinity measure and will die, marine bacteria is suited to marine environments and will die. Osmosis is rather important to our single celled friends.

 

Brackish encompasses 3 different ranges. Low, med, high. All of these will have different options for plants, microfauna, and fish.

 

As follows:

low- 1.001-1.008 SG

med- 1.008-1.016 SG

High- 1.016-1.024+ SG

 

In a low environment many hardy plants can still survive and thrive albeit at a much slower pace. In the low you will find it is very similar to freshwater in a lot of ways. Bumblebee gobies and certain rainbow fish like it here. Not a lot is sacrificed adding salt to the tank.

 

medium environment is where things start getting interesting. Mangroves do quite well here and will grow quite fast as this is most akin to their natural environment. But no other freshwater plant will survive. You can do some chaeto algaes or macroalgae for greenery. Gobies, mollies, puffers, and freshwater demoiselle do really well in smaller tanks <40 gallons. Bigger tanks you will see scat, mono, archerfish, and morays. This is where many shrimp, crab, and whelks come into play as well for cleaner crew. Brackish fish and plants are less concerned about you maintaining consistent levels of salinity. In their natural environment the measure may fluctuate from full freshwater to full marine. Sometimes twice a day so these animals are not shy or finicky. Imo one of the perks of brackish vs full marine.

 

High environment is where reefers have started dabbling of the people ive talked to. These tanks are much more stable and can hold some full marine species. Mangroves are still great here but also most macroalgae likes it here in this range. You can make a very green brackish tank and also keep some slower growing anenome and coral species here. Bengaii cardinalfish and clownfish like it here, albeit at the upper end. Mollies still do great here and many mangrove specialists live here. Marine worms and copepods do really well in this environment and are great tank cleaners.

 

Also brackish doesn’t play by reefing rules nor freshwater. It is a much more forgiving environment. The biggest downside is it is not nearly as popular so your options are limited and some research will have to be done to see what you want to keep.

[Tom Perry]

Thanks for the advice information I knew this forum would help you are truly amazing ,helpful and my people!