Camad727 - the only extra effort for me has been the mixing up the marine salt to get the specific gravity correct. Everything else is pretty much the same as any other tank...regular maintenance etc etc. I also have to make sure the hardness is high enough but that's no problem for me either as my water is hard enough to slice
fishfishfish - they are about 2.5 inches long. Mickey is larger than Muldoonican by a tail length. I haven't uprooted them to measure accurately so that's a through the glass estimate
Emma, DarkEntity - the plants are doing reasonably well as I'm acclimatising slowly. The brown algae has started it's attack on my defenses and I have been told this is to be expected with brackish set ups? I was thinking (hoping) it was the usual 'new tank attack' rather than something I'd have to put up with permanently
The valis seems to be 'melting' at the tips in some areas, mainly where the water movement is at is's slowest. As I have relatively low lighting levels (1x30W T8) I am unsure if it is the effects of this or the brackish water. Usually, in most of my other tanks, I find it doing the same thing which leads me to believe it's lighting as all my tanks are lowish light setups at the moment. It's not melting as fast as the other tanks so I am hoping the plant substrate is helping. As for the java fern and anubias they are totally unaffected so far
I gave the tank a big clean last night and have to say I am looking forward to getting my external filtration set up at the end of the month. These guys are big poopers and I am glad to say my syphon does a great job of removing it but I deffo need help. There are so many different ones out there but a self-priming one is a must (I've been told) and I've heard Eheim are good.
Any recommendations anyone? That infamous 'bit of string' question
