Setting up a 29 gallon brackish tank, and could use all the help possible

[MooseChild]

So hello guys,

Just like to start off saying that I am new, so if i have done anything wrong please let me know asap and I will correct it.

Now that that is out of the way . My brother breeds Betta fish and has been quite successful with it and while in the hobby met a few people, one of them have given him a Figure 8 Puffer, but he no longer wants it and said I could have it. I went on to a second hand website and got myself some equipment (again) and got sea salt as could not find marine salt that didn't come in 50 kg buckets, but as I have never had a brackish tank I was looking for some help with the setup. now I know the water specifications (1.005-1.008 SG) and diet (snails, daphnia, Bloodworms, etc.) looked up a few things on the figure 8 puffer, and have gotten most of my info here. But what I want to do is add about 5 bumblebee gobies with my puffer in a WELL decorated 29 gallon tank so they will have a higher chance of not being killed. To decorate I want to use pots, wood and a bit of
java Moss (easy to get and apparently can live in brackish water) one of the questions I want to ask is, Can I use earthenware or stoneware clay as my substrate (with nothing else) as I think it would look nice and I have a lot lying around if not I will just go with the popular pool filter sand, I was also looking at doing 15-20% water changes once a week or so, How would you recommend going about that the easiest way ? any other recommendations/tips on equipment (I have most of it on hand if you recommend it) or anything really I would greatly appreciate it.

I am going to breed my own food ( a few different snails (like apple snails), brine shrimp, daphnia, etc.) (and take some from my brother as he already breed some of it for his fish).

AND again thanks for any help.

 

[iliveinazoo]

Hello Moosechild.
Be careful getting salts that aren't mean for marine tanks as they won't contain the multitude of ingredients that is required, also some salts contain anti-caking agents and i'm not sure how conducive to health they are.
Java Moss will not do well at the salinities that you have stated but you could reduce your target to SG1.003@25DegC and it should survive ok and your puffer will be no worse off.

Instead of apple snails which grow fairly large you could breed common pond snails but still only feed them snails about the size of its eye.

I don't know anything about your chosen substrate but you should find out if it hardens or softens the water, harden is good, soften is bad. Also will it leach anything into the water? Generally wood is not recommend because it softens water and breaks down quicker in salty environments. That said, i've got a couple of big bits of bogwood in my tank, i have just added bags of calcium carbonate in the filter to counteract the effect as much as I can. Calcium carbonate substrates - like aragonite sand - are also recommended because they buffer the pH alkaline.

Bumblebee Gobies are a pretty safe bet with puffes but they tend to be quite territorial among themselves so they will whittle themselves down to suit the amount of space available.

For water changes i use a water butt and an old pond pump to mix the salt and use a drill pump to pump from the butt into the tank and i drain the tank with a gravel vac and a long hose that i run out into the garden. Others will use a python for water changes and maybe a single bucket to mix all of the salt.

Good luck, they are great little fish to have.

 

[MooseChild]

Hello Moosechild.
Be careful getting salts that aren't mean for marine tanks as they won't contain the multitude of ingredients that is required, also some salts contain anti-caking agents and i'm not sure how conducive to health they are.
Java Moss will not do well at the salinities that you have stated but you could reduce your target to SG1.003@25DegC and it should survive ok and your puffer will be no worse off.

Instead of apple snails which grow fairly large you could breed common pond snails but still only feed them snails about the size of its eye.

I don't know anything about your chosen substrate but you should find out if it hardens or softens the water, harden is good, soften is bad. Also will it leach anything into the water? Generally wood is not recommend because it softens water and breaks down quicker in salty environments. That said, i've got a couple of big bits of bogwood in my tank, i have just added bags of calcium carbonate in the filter to counteract the effect as much as I can. Calcium carbonate substrates - like aragonite sand - are also recommended because they buffer the pH alkaline.

Bumblebee Gobies are a pretty safe bet with puffes but they tend to be quite territorial among themselves so they will whittle themselves down to suit the amount of space available.

For water changes i use a water butt and an old pond pump to mix the salt and use a drill pump to pump from the butt into the tank and i drain the tank with a gravel vac and a long hose that i run out into the garden. Others will use a python for water changes and maybe a single bucket to mix all of the salt.

Good luck, they are great little fish to have.

Hey iliveinazoo

Thanks so much for the information, this is the most help i have found since i started researching in November. I have asked someone locally about the salt and they told me i would be fine (this is the salt) . since java moss is not suitable, is there a plant that grows and lives easier in brackish water ? I am not going to use the clay, after testing it, i found it gets disturbed too easliy and make the tank permanently murky and probably going to go with aragonite sand like you said and no wood just some pots and maybe some other things like rocks. etc.

and again Thanks so much for the help

 

[iliveinazoo]

I'm not sure if the sea salt contains all of the trace elements that a marine salt does but since it is just evaporated sea water then I suspect that it probably does.

Lots of plants struggle over SG1.003 and even more struggle over SG1.005. I recommend keeping your tank at SG1.003 because your puffer will be absolutely fine with it. I've always struggled with Java Moss, it seems to do well up until summer and then dies off. Plants that have done well for me are:

1. Vallis Gigantea.
2. Aponogeton Crispus.
3. Sagittaria Subulata.
4. Cryptocoryne Wendtii.
5. Ceratopteris Thalictroides.
6. Tiger Lotus.
7. Bacopa Monieri.
8. Java Fern (seems to stay really small in my tank).
9. Crinum Callimustratum (although after a year in the tank this has started to die back a bit).
10. Anubias Nana (grows really slow though and isn't really thriving).

When I used to fluctuate to SG1.005-SG1.008 then the only plants that survived were the Bacopa, Aponogeton Crispus and Java Fern although I get the feeling that they would have slowly died off if I maintained the higher salinity for any length of time.

There is a truly Brackish Crypt called Cryptocoryne Ciliata but I have never managed to find it over here, if you do find it then it should tolerate a wide variety of salinities.