Interesting Brackish Set-up

[CAC]

Im wanting to set-up a brackish aquarium, and I intend to keep some form of moray eel/s in it. I have two tanks that I could use, a 38 US gallon and an 18 US gallon one. I would probably like to use the 18g. It has no lid, and for lighting has one of those units that have legs which fix to each side of the aquarium, like the ones made by arcadia. It houses 3 tubes, and has two switches, so that you can have 1, 2 or all 3 tubes on at once. I have 4 tubes though, 3 white/normal and one blue actnic. The filteration is an Eheim liberty 100 HOB which pumps 380 lph. This gives the tank a turnover of arround 4.7 times its own volume per hour. I also have a 100w (or is it 75?) eheim heater.
I want to keep probably 3 Moringua raitaborua, or more commonly known as the Purple spaghetti eel. They grow to arround 8" in aquaria, apparently.
In the tank, I want to have a pretty deep sand bed for them to bury in, and also a large(ish) pile of rocks for them to make their own. So, could I use LR in there, and is there a certain SG it would have to get to until I could use LR? I would probably be using an SG of 1.010 or there abouts (would that be ok?). Also, could macro algea (chaeto) live in those kind of conditions (i.e lighting an SG).
For lighting, I have a few options. I can use all three white tubes, one white, 2 white, a blue and two white, a blue, a blue and a white, or just one white light. But I can experiment with that at the time, but and macro algea I have in there could suffer (so I wouldnt get it) if I had the lighting too low...
Do you think that filteration, and that type of filteration will be ok, or would I be better with a canister? Will I need a lid? Are there any little brackish critters I could use (and that wont get eaten!)? Think I could have any other fish in there (I probs wont bother...)

Any ideas/info greatly recived.

Thanks, Mike

 

[nmonks]

So, could I use LR in there, and is there a certain SG it would have to get to until I could use LR?

No, living rock won't work, and yes, you need at least SG 1.018, and likely SG 1.024, to even think about living rock culture in an aquarium.

Also, could macro algea (chaeto) live in those kind of conditions (i.e lighting an SG).

No.

Do you think that filteration, and that type of filteration will be ok, or would I be better with a canister? Will I need a lid? Are there any little brackish critters I could use (and that wont get eaten!)? Think I could have any other fish in there (I probs wont bother...)

I have no comments about the brand of filter you suggest. But turnover around 4-5 times per hour is adequate for most brackish water tanks containing small fishes like spaghetti eels. Yes, you'll need a lid. As for additional animals, I'd be thinking about gobies, flatfish, and other relatively docile animals that won't steal food from the eels. Blue-leg hermit crabs might even be an option. Nerite snails would be ideal.

Cheers, Neale

 

[CAC]

So, could I use LR in there, and is there a certain SG it would have to get to until I could use LR?

No, living rock won't work, and yes, you need at least SG 1.018, and likely SG 1.024, to even think about living rock culture in an aquarium.

Also, could macro algea (chaeto) live in those kind of conditions (i.e lighting an SG).

No.

Do you think that filteration, and that type of filteration will be ok, or would I be better with a canister? Will I need a lid? Are there any little brackish critters I could use (and that wont get eaten!)? Think I could have any other fish in there (I probs wont bother...)

I have no comments about the brand of filter you suggest. But turnover around 4-5 times per hour is adequate for most brackish water tanks containing small fishes like spaghetti eels. Yes, you'll need a lid. As for additional animals, I'd be thinking about gobies, flatfish, and other relatively docile animals that won't steal food from the eels. Blue-leg hermit crabs might even be an option. Nerite snails would be ideal.

Cheers, Neale

Cheers Neale
So no LR or macro algea then.
I wouldnt have thought id need a lid for the tank Neale, because theyre bottom dwellers, and I would think it unlikely that they would want to jump...
Im going to give wildwoods a ring now to see what flatfish they have/can get in and take it from there, as ive allways loved the brackish flatties...If I were to keep the eels and a flatfish or two, what kind of numbers would you suggest for each species for an 18g? And what SG would you say would suit both best?

EDIT: Just spoken to wilwoods, who have some of the purple spaghetti eels in stock, however they dont do delivery of livestock which could be abit of a dead end to the plans as wildwoods is very far from me...Also, they dont stock flounders because the yhavent had much luck with them....So, Im going to phone BAS at some point and sree if they have them as I could go there to pick them up. So ill have to just wait and see
RE-EDIT: Seems that BAS dont have any either...I also have another idea for that tank, which is wasp fish (Neovespicula depressifrons). Now I know to keep the SG between 1.012 and 1.016 abouts, so how many would you think would be good for the 18g? I would say about 3, then have some other bits and bobs, like snails, blue legged hermits (or would they get eaten?) and maybe some larger gobies that get to arround 2-3" or so. Think that sounds good? Any ideas for that kind of a tank?

Cheers, Mike