Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 19, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 19, 2013 I was wanting to set up a brackish tank . But I have no idea where to start ???? I already havE fish and shrimp I can acllimate but I just don't know what to do I found mixed info online 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Pearlscaleperfect Posted January 20, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 20, 2013 Are the fish and shrimp species that thrive in brackish water? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kortniee Posted January 20, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 20, 2013 Can I ask why you want to set up a brackish tank? If all the fish you want to keep in there are those that have to be acclimated to brackish, I am not sure why you would want to set it up? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 21, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 Can I ask why you want to set up a brackish tank? If all the fish you want to keep in there are those that have to be acclimated to brackish, I am not sure why you would want to set it up? I would like to have saltwater Shrimps and in time have some dwarf gobies 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 21, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 I just set up a brackish water tank a few weeks ago. You need a Hydrometer to measure specific gravity, sea salt (I got Instant Ocean) and some calcium carbonate rocks so the water is nicely buffered and does not become acidic. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 21, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 Ok thanks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Pearlscaleperfect Posted January 21, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 If you want to do saltwater you need to consider things like live rock and protein skimmers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 21, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 Yep my dad had a saltwater setup got rid it when I was little grrr. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member smegypsiren Posted January 21, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 There's a huge difference going from brackish to salt. Going from fresh to brackish is just a matter of adding the right salt and keeping it right. I had green spotted puffers that where brackish and it was a breeze. I bought the book saltwater aquariums for dummies, that was enough to put me off saltwater forever. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kortniee Posted January 21, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 (edited) If you want a saltwater tank, you are going to want to start with saltwater stuff. Brackish fish won't do well with the full salt of a saltwater tank. How big is the tank you're thinking of doing this in? I would recommend a large tank (at least 30 gallons, and 55 would be better) if at all possible for a first saltwater tank. Things can go so wrong so quickly without a large amount of water to help keep things stable. Edited January 21, 2013 by Courtney 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 21, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 I am doing a 5 gallon brackish shrimp tank , I would love a saltwater but my dad problems and spent a lot of $$$ so my mom is unsure . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 21, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 21, 2013 What kind of shrimp are you putting in brackish water? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 22, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) Ghost shrimps ATM but I would like to add others like super shrimps Edited January 22, 2013 by Gustave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member GreenTea Posted January 23, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 23, 2013 (edited) Ghost shrimps ATM but I would like to add others like super shrimps Gustave, it sounds like you have a lot more research to do. Ghost shrimp are freshwater shrimp or can be kept in slightly brackish water. If your want a brackish tank, set it up properly and get proper inhabitants for it. Its not right to put freshwater fish or shrimp in a salty environment, and especially not a full marine environment. Your ghost shrimp will do better in freshwater. It doesn't sound like your parents are on board with this either from what you've posted so maybe you should talk to them about this, especially the expense portion. I am not trying to be mean but this seems very unorganized and like you haven't planned this out or thought about it much. Edited January 23, 2013 by GreenTea 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 23, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 23, 2013 (edited) My dad likes the idea of doing one but I think I am going Stay with a freshwater tank and I learned not to trust everything i read on the web , I read On a forum that said ghost shrimps needed brackish tanks but glad to know they don't . I know my mom thinks I am nuts I learned that when I told her my prazi schedule I think what happened was my dad rushed into saltwater and lost a lot of money so it makes my mum nervous , if I ever really started I would do extensive research and it would be after my current fish, my dad likes the idea my mom likes it a little once I explained it. It's just my dad when had a had a tank didn't do research he never did a water change on his sw tank Edited January 23, 2013 by Gustave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 23, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 23, 2013 And also I pay for most all of my tank and pet stuff stuff so before I did anything I would calculate the costs I know I am not doing anything for sometime I just wanted to know the basics so when the time Came I knew what to do 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kortniee Posted January 23, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 23, 2013 Thank you for adding that detail, Gustave. Sometimes it's hard to get a feel for where a question is going with only a couple of lines of information to go on. I would encourage you to start off future queries with as much information as possible. It helps everyone. Saltwater tanks have a lot of variables to consider and a lot of things that can go wrong, and on top of that almost everything involved in that hobby is super expensive, so I understand where your mom is coming from. Brackish tanks do carry some of those challenges as well, so it's a good thing to do as much research as you can before setting one up yourself. If we have a brackish expert here on the forum, I am unaware of it. I was hoping we did and one would pop by at some point. there are people who are experts out there, though, so read up and apply the critical fish thinking you've gotten from keeping freshwater fish to what you read. Adding salt doesn't change the whole process of keeping aquariums; it just tends to make it a bit more work-intensive. I would start by picking either a species or a couple species that I really wanted to keep, and then learning as much as I could about their care. This should provide a lot of information about what kinds of things you need to keep the particular animals you want. Alternately, you could start with the size tank you want and try to find out what, if anything, can do well in that size tank, but sometimes this backfires when you can't find anything you WANT to keep that will thrive in the environment you've picked out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 23, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted January 23, 2013 If you still want to set up a brackish tank get the super shrimp. I have the super shrimp in my brackish tank. There is very little cost to setting it up and almost no maintenance. There is a little cost in buying the hydrometer & sea salt then after it's set up the only maintenance you need to do is top it off with RO water once in a while. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted January 24, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 24, 2013 Ok 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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