# Brackish water tank set up



## SEK_05 (Aug 17, 2010)

hello everyone, i would like to set up my 20 gal tank for brackish water. so today i went and bought aquarium salt, stress coat plus, and stress zyme. i set up my marineland 20 gal tall tank with 2 penguin bio wheel 150s and filled the water and then added the stress coat plus, then i added the stress zyme and 5 mintues later i added the aquarium salt to my tank? and i finished with the process? i was told i dont need prime because stress coat would do the job, is this true? if not and i have to buy prime do i have to empty my tank out again and start over? can someone please tell me the proper procedure to set up a brackish tank? thank you, im setting this up for 1 green spotted puffer fish. 
This is my current tank set up after i did everything i just told you


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## Big Dog (May 17, 2010)

Looks real good. Keep up the good work.


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## SEK_05 (Aug 17, 2010)

Thank you! so i drained my tank becuase i didnt like the idea of adding chemicals from stress coat and stress zyme so i cleaned everything off and refilled my tank and all i have added is the proper amount of Prime and the instant ocean to get my salinity to a 1.015. what kind of fish can i add to this 20 gal to begin the cycling process? iam aware of the water changes i must do weekly and really dont like the idea of just adding ammonia. what should i do next?


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

20 gal is pretty small... You could have ONE Figure 8 Puffer (they will kill anything else) - OR - Knight/Fan Dancer Gobies (tank good for 5 maximum) - OR - Bumblebee Gobies (tank good for 15 or so maximum).

Knight Gobies and Bumblebee Gobies can be mixed maybe, but obviously this means you can't keep 5 or 15 of each, adjust numbers accordingly.

There's not really many other Brackish fish I can think of that are good in a 20 gallon.

I keep all the fish mentioned above (in various tanks), also keep Green Spotted Puffer, Violet Goby, Green Scat, Silver Scat, Archer Fish and Freshwater (don't let the name fool you, they're Brackish) Flounders. In my opinion none of these fish should be in a 20 gal.

I hope that helps narrow things down. 

You can also research for yourself on Glass Fish for Brackish... Some of those might work... And if you hold your salinity over 1.010 consistently you can also add Marine Blue and Red Legged Hermit Crabs. I have successfully kept them in 1.012...


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

Just to add... cycle with as few a fish as possible and accept that it isn't good for the fish to do it. You can lose them (although if you do water changes throughout the cycling process I don't see why this has to happen - I've never lost a fish during cycling or shortened it's lifespan).

So if you intend to get lots of Knight Gobies, cycle with one. Then when your numbers look good as a couple more, then wait a couple of weeks and add the last two.


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## SEK_05 (Aug 17, 2010)

Thank you Tim! so u believe one gsp is to big for a 20 gal? i really like them and dont mind only having one, if not those bumblebee gobies look really nice how many of those do u believe i can keep in a 20 gal?


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

15 of those I would think. They'll only grow an inch or so long but they're great fish. Mine look like this:
http://timwheatley.org/www/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/bumbbeegoby.jpg

I do think 20 gal is too small for a GSP as an adult. But it'll be fine for a while. You can't really put anything else in the tank though, a GSP will kill anything else in there (eventually).


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## SEK_05 (Aug 17, 2010)

wow those fish are nice! would i have to do alot of water changes with 15 fish? and as of now i set the tank up added the water added prime put on the two penguin 150 biowheel filters added the salt to get the salinity to 1.013 and now i have it cycling with 2 mollies and im going to my LPS to get some gravel tomorrow to speed up the process


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

I do once a week (sometimes two weeks if I am busy on a weekend) on all my tanks, no matter what their bioload. about 40% of the water is changed.


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## Atom Plant (Nov 16, 2008)

You _could possibly_ keep some Bumblebee Gobies and a Figure-Eight Pufferfish. The Figure-Eight is a little tamer compared to the GSP and won't grow as big. From what I have researched it has been done succesfully, though all puffers have their own personality.


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## ironbone (Nov 6, 2010)

hi i think you are starting your sg a little high,i would bring it down some to start,or your going to eat up salt.poor mollies,i have a 40g brackish tank for just mollies sg at 1.020 and they love it fun fish to drink coffee too in am,there is alot of funky brackish fish but just choose whats right for what you have..figure8 puffer is cool for 20g but they are lower end brackish sg.i have 1 gsp in 40g at 1.020,i have a big vat of water changes made up in 50g rubbermaid for both my brackish tanks,works out better for me and the dwellers :fish5:and i use marinland bio wheels on my tanks they always have did a good job for me.i found that you can help yourself with the filters by altering them for just the mechanical then get some little socks to put bio balls in,and carbon and seems to do pretty good for me.options are wide open thats whats nice about these forums you get to read more options then just taking your lfs at what they say.and i do like the tank*w3oh yeah i would use a sand substrate i think its much easier mant.


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## 3dhuck (Dec 6, 2011)

The salinity is to high for a Figure 8 puffer 1.003-1.008. My green spotted is in a salinity of 1.013. Also for a puffer you will want double the filtration and a bigger tank. They need at least 30 gallons per puffer.


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