LIFE! DO YOU HEAR ME?!

[IC Casey]

GIVE MY CREATION LIFE!

Well, thanks to my inability to control spending habits and a helpful forum member (big shout-out to AndrewH), I've got my first tank up.

I'm putting it here because my eventual goal is to have it brackish. I'll begin the SLOW conversion from freshwater once I've proven I'm not going to kill everything right away. I plan on establishing it as a tank for a sole Figure 8 Puffer, so right now it contains:

1) Giant Hygro
2) Narrow Leaf Java Fern
3) Java Moss
4) Anubius??
5) 2 live snails (so far)

All of the above came courtesy of the most helpful AndrewH.

6) Banana plant
7) 10 Suicide Shrimp (ghost shrimp) - If they make it through this process, they will more than likely become lunch time for the puffer. Such is the life of the poor freshwater prawn. Right now, they're pretty entertaining, though.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24962921@N08/2351543640/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24962921@N08/2351543936/

[tsunderl]

Congrats Casey and WTG Andrew! You're alright! http://www.pushupstairs.com/images/emoticon/extra3/17222.gif

[AndrewH]

Big congrats!!

Tank's looking good. I'm still a noob when it comes to brackish, so definitely keep us updated on your progress!

[supersmirky]

Alright...good job guys. Andrew...I didn't know you had hygro. Do you have to trim it daily?

[AndrewH]

Yes sir. I got it from a gal in California (Giant Hygro (http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=134) to be exact). I also have some Red Temple (http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=10), which looks very similar, but it's red (that I got from Kathy - Thanks again Kathy).

Both grow like mad. Very nice plants. I'm not trimming them yet (though I probably should), so to get them to well establish themselves and to fill-in.

[IC Casey]

Big congrats!!

Tank's looking good. I'm still a noob when it comes to brackish, so definitely keep us updated on your progress!

Yeah, we'll see how it goes. I kinda get obsessive about things, and I'm a tinkerer, so it should be interesting.

For instance, right now I'm trying to determine the best way to get my water stable. At the old house - really low pH (5.7-5.9) but it was hard water.

At the new house, high pH, high kH, low gH (trending to moderate, can't recall the numbers). And by high, I mean pH 8.4+, kH 300-ish. A got the hook up on one of those nutrafin CO2 systems but I was hoping to avoid that. I figured the driftwood would help some. What else? Peat filtration? I've got to give it some time to settle to see what the aquarium is doing to the tap water, if anything. As of today, it's not doing anything, but I wouldn't expect it to do mich with a kH that high.

[AndrewH]

You could always go the RO/DI route.

[lellison]

awesome! I had a brackish tank with a figure 8 and I loved him. His name was Barry, one of the best fish I ever had.

[ElijahTurtle]

Are you cycling it with mollies? I've seen people adjust them completely to SW salinity & kept them with their clownfish. So they make good fish for cycling a Brackish tank.

[AndrewH]

Yeah, I've heard the same thing (Mollies or Guppies) both can go full marine.

[bra8ndy8]

Wtg!!!!

[kewlkatdady]

I know nothing about brackish water at all...

but fyi, the higher the ph, the more toxic ammo is.

Be careful during the cycle.



Man with PH like that, you need a tang tank.

Yeah, we'll see how it goes. I kinda get obsessive about things, and I'm a tinkerer, so it should be interesting.

For instance, right now I'm trying to determine the best way to get my water stable. At the old house - really low pH (5.7-5.9) but it was hard water.

At the new house, high pH, high kH, low gH (trending to moderate, can't recall the numbers). And by high, I mean pH 8.4+, kH 300-ish. A got the hook up on one of those nutrafin CO2 systems but I was hoping to avoid that. I figured the driftwood would help some. What else? Peat filtration? I've got to give it some time to settle to see what the aquarium is doing to the tap water, if anything. As of today, it's not doing anything, but I wouldn't expect it to do mich with a kH that high.

[IC Casey]

Well, it's pretty obvious that our water is being softened somewhere along the line.

Currently, Ammonia appears to be no big problem. I suspect the plants are keeping it down, but the tank is also rapidly cycling thanks to AndrewH's used Eco-Complete and plants. I did put in some supplemental food (only once so far) for the shrimp to kinda give it a boost.

Currently, the nitrites and nitrates are both on the up (Ammonia back down), nitrites started building on day 2, nitrates on day 3.

There's nothing in the tank I'm too concerned with right now. I won't be cycling with any fish, even though shrimp aren't recommended. I won't cycle with Mollies because I just don't care for them.

Apparently, higher kH/pH are condusive to brackish and marine tanks, from what I've read. Still a lot to see once everything is running in the tank.

[lellison]

yepp. I have seen mollies full marine before. If I am correct they are technically brackish fish anyways. Never heard that about guppies though.

[AndrewH]

Some brackish fish (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracfishes.htm)

Guppies in brackish water - read Water chemistry near the bottom (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm%5DGuppies%20in%20brackish%20water%20-%20read%20%3Cb%3EWater%20chemistry%3C/b%3E%20near%20the%20bottom)

Some brackish plants (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracplants.htm)

Good brackish info on that site!!!

[biggin]

Mollies live in whatever little mud puddle they can find.

yepp. I have seen mollies full marine before. If I am correct they are technically brackish fish anyways. Never heard that about guppies though.

[supersmirky]

DNA actually has mollies in their full marine aquariums and on the freshwater side. Funny to see mollies swimming with pretty salties

[IC Casey]

Yeah, a lot of people have mollies in their brackish and marine tanks.

I will not.

[IC Casey]

Man with PH like that, you need a tang tank.


It's in the running at this point, since I've yet to start the conversion to brackish, and won't until I've got the plants well established.

A Tang tank would actually be the easiest thing in the world for me to do, given my natural water parameters.

Although the owner at the LFS kept telling me not to use the driftwood with Cichlids. I'm assuming he meant African Cichlids and assume he said that because it lowers pH, but I think with my current water, it'd have to be some seriously strong driftwood to do that. My pH still reads 8.4+, carbonate hardness still 300+.

[lellison]

Mollies live in whatever little mud puddle they can find.
and breed in whatever little mud puddle they can find. lol

[IC Casey]

Although, for the record, the ghost shrimp seem to have no problems so far. They're pretty sure the tank belongs to them.

[kewlkatdady]

Lucky....

I wish my water params were like that naturally.

It's in the running at this point, since I've yet to start the conversion to brackish, and won't until I've got the plants well established.

A Tang tank would actually be the easiest thing in the world for me to do, given my natural water parameters.

Although the owner at the LFS kept telling me not to use the driftwood with Cichlids. I'm assuming he meant African Cichlids and assume he said that because it lowers pH, but I think with my current water, it'd have to be some seriously strong driftwood to do that. My pH still reads 8.4+, carbonate hardness still 300+.

[lellison]

ug, I wish mine weren't.

[supersmirky]

You're not planning on having those plants with brackish are you?

[IC Casey]

You're not planning on having those plants with brackish are you?

All of them are on the brackish approved plant list, save the Giant Hygro, which at the very least is serving to help quick cycle, and may or may not survive the conversion. They'll get salinity upped slowly, but I'm waiting to do ANYTHING until they've established themselves fully and grown to a point where I won't mind stunting them with brackish.

[IC Casey]

I added another (different type) Java Fern and a Val today, and moved a small portion of the Hygro over. Will take more pics as soon as I get batteries for the camera.

I might get bumblebee gobies instead of a single figure 8 to help keep the bioload down. Pea puffers are still an option if I don't go brackish.

Oh, and in the process, I broke my canopy because I'm an idiot, so if anyone's got a glass canopy for a 10G, lemme know.

[supersmirky]

Bumblebee gobies are really cool.

[AndrewH]

x2

Biggin had some one time I was over there and those things were awesome to watch.

[supersmirky]

Andrew...don't speak of those :tumbleweed:

[AndrewH]

:rofl: :baghead::silence:

[IC Casey]

yeah, and unlike a Fig 8, I could keep some other folks (not many) in the tank, too, with some bumblebees. at the very least, they wouldn't take up as much space by themselves. and every time i see them in the store, i find myself pretty drawn to them. not to mention that the only place I've seen a Fig 8 in the store is The Fish Place (don't get me wrong, nice store), which is the other side of Funkytown for me, while True Percula and Pet-O-Rama carry the bumblebee gobies.

right now, i'm working on combatting what looks like the beginnings of some black brush algae. i've started by cutting down my light hours and cutting off all supplemental food for the shrimp. i have no idea if they'll eat the stuff or not, but they'd better if they know what's good for them.

[ElijahTurtle]

i have no idea if they'll eat the stuff or not, but they'd better if they know what's good for them.

Why? :confuzeld:
it's not like you can fry them up or make a shrimp cocktail out of 'em :hehe::hehe:

[IC Casey]

Although its brackishness is still up in the air, I'll just continue this thread:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24962921@N08/2397714770/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24962921@N08/2397715094/

[budwick weiser]

so what did you decide? what's in the ten gallon now?

[bra8ndy8]

Awwwwww thanks for the avatar change Sean!!!!!