So, this section of the forum doesn't look like it gets heavy use??? thinking about setting up a brackish tank...

[Magnum Man]

So, I ended up with a new 55 gallon, this was to replace one of my old tanks, if the sanitize from the rainbow, suspected TB did not go well, it seems to have... leaving me a brand new 55 gallon tank, and no place right now to put it... 30 years ago, I did try a brackish tank, along with a handful of salt water tanks... this was before the internet... now I'm thinking something like @WhistlingBadger 's, where I could do a few mud skippers on the land part, and a few brackish fish, in the water part, and following my normal theme, add a handful of mangroves... I don't have a place for the tank, until Mrs. gets sick of looking at it, empty, against the wall in the dining room, so nothing happening right away, but open to suggestions in the build, and stocking areas, for the future...

 

[anewbie]

I wouldn't set it up brackish; if you do it will be awful salty.

 

[Magnum Man]

meaning??? If I used My RO water, not my hard well water and the prescribed amount of sea salt...

thinking skippers, and maybe a couple scats, mono's and or chromides, or similar...

thinking about laying a piece of plate glass, at an angle... maybe 30 -45 degrees, with the top ending 6-8 inches from one end, giving 30-40 gallons of water... fill under the glass with expanding foam, and silicone it in place, water tight, then use silicone to stick pebbles: rocks, and gravel on the tank side

 

[Archerfish]

Great idea! I had brackish water tanks for years. They are amazing. Scats etc get big. Do some research. Skippers are amazing but territorial. Even in a 55. I had several brackish water tanks. One had bumble bee gobies, a couple of others had skippers and I still have my Archerfish. I will have to go back to my records and look at all I kept back then. Red Mangroves are fantastic too. I am attaching an image of a red mangrove I started from a propagule about 20 years ago. It fills my sunroom now! They are great with mudskippers. Let me know when you are ready to start. I will be happy to share lessons learned. Brackish systems are probably the most misunderstood of aquariums. They are very unusual and quite the conversation piece. I just reread your post (above) regarding the glass. I tried that and what happens over time is the water (it will get in there) and the skippers will 'eliminate' on the sand or gravel turning it foul and it becomes difficult to clean. Consider using a fine mesh screen at the very bottom to allow you to pour water onto and flush the beach area. It works great. Again, a lesson learned. Good luck!

 

[anewbie]

meaning??? If I used My RO water, not my hard well water and the prescribed amount of sea salt...

Well I think it is obvious - if you put salt in ro water it ends up salty; take a taste

 

[Back in the fold]

Too much work fiddling around maintaining a constant and stable salinity . If you want brackish then get some Mollies and tell yourself they’re in brackish water . Neither of you will know or care .

 

[Archerfish]

But that is the beauty of brackish. It is a dynamic environment. The specific gravity of the water is ever changing. And the species are very tolerant. So much misunderstanding out there about brackish water environments.

 

[GaryE]

The brackish environments around here are so dynamic I'm scared off of making one. The tides, the tides. When I drive to the local fish store, I cross a tidal creek that is full of Fundulus heteroclitus, mummichogs, a killifish I'd like to keep. The salinity changes through the day, with the water depth and temperature. The fish are tough and adaptable, but I'm not sure my abilities as an aquarist are up to that challenge.
There are a couple of species of brackish mollies I'd like to keep - I kept a lot of the freshwater species when I was in my livebearer days, but other than them, not a lot of brackish fish appeal to me. A tank for mudskippers would be a lot of work, and mud.

 

[Magnum Man]

I had an interesting thought, about tides... if a small tube, like air line siphoned down the tank, to a sump, then when the sump was full, a small pump would pump it back, so there would be a rising and falling across the angled piece... maybe something like a Tidal brand hob filter on the short side of the deeper part of the tank, to keep "solids" in the water down... and thinking about it, I'd probably have to pump out, rather than syphon, to avoid clogging... and maybe a 1/2 inch deep sand tray, at the top, that could be removed for cleaning, and would hold water ( for the mud ) I would have to look for some micro pumps, and research terrestrial plants that can stand their roots in brackish... thinking the mangroves and their roots, down on the deep end... I am worried about salt creep on any glass, above the water line... lots to think about..

 

[Magnum Man]

1st look I found some 30 gallon per hour , which would make my tides come in and out, in about an hour and a half... I 've got a couple 30 gallon sump tanks I'm not using, so with 30 gallons, as a tidal cycle, that would be about 2 hours from high tide, to low tide, and back to high tide again... running the tide water, through some Japan mat, or sponge, at the sump, will provide beneficial bacteria exposure to the moving water

 

[Archerfish]

Mud is not needed unless you want to try breeding the mudskippers. I have had many brackish tanks with gravel, sand and all sorts of substrates. Visit some brackish water areas if you are ever in Florida. You will find gravel, sand, mulm, mud and combinations of substrates. Mangroves don't need mud either. I would use fine gravel or sand. Regarding the tide effect, do you want to high/low tide the same as in nature or just for effect?

 

[Magnum Man]

tides matched to nature sounds more difficult, and doing a 2 hour cycle, should keep exposed areas wet enough, and actually provide viewers to see. both high and low tides in the time of a normal visit

 

[anewbie]

There are hi/lo on/off switches that can be used for what you are describing; the you can then adjust the duration by the pump power and the size of the tube into the sump. So in theory it is all doable - of course you would want the intake to the sump above the max height of the sump and while 30 gallon for the sump would be fine you would do better with a tall 30 gallon as oppose to a long shallow 30 gallon.

 

[simonas]

Sounds like a great idea. Brackish tanks seemed more popular about 20 years ago. I used to keep dragon gobies and had great fun keeping those in bracksih water. could they go in the water section with the skippers.

Slways wanted to keep mudskippers intriguing things. Are four eyed fish brackish? knight gobies, waspfish etc are all so cool