looking for suggestions on brackish tanks

[SiNiStEr NaTiOn]

My 55 isn't no longer a barb tank, decided to breed and raise mollies.

planning on a sg 1.05 - 1.12 and ph 7.6 or bit higher for my mollies. it's been about 14 years since i had a brackish mollie tank. So I'm having trouble on recalling equipment that i had used back then.

1> how much salt per gallon to achieve 1.05 to 1.12 SG?
2> Filtration, should I use my DIY sump I had built and use a protien skimmer for brackish tank.

I'm planning on turning my 75 into this brackish tank.

Also I wasn't sure where to post this, if this is in the wrong forum I'm sorry and a mod can move this to the proper forum.

 

[thereefersspot]

1) well half a cup of salt usually gets you to 1.21, so half of that, so 1/4 cup per gallon should be right, just double check on the brand of salt you buy that thats right
2) i have never done a brackish tank, but why not, the protein skimmer just might not be as effieciant, not really sure about that tho. perhaps someone elese knows the answer to this

 

[DaveK]

The big trick with brackish water tanks is to come up with a good aquascape. In FW tanks you can grow plants. In reef systems you can keep corals and related items. It's a lot harder in a brackish tank.

That being said, you could have a really nice molly tank, especially if you can find some of the serious sailfin mollies.

Mollies and the other usual brackish water fish are usually hardy, and usually do well. I have found that obtaining mollies that I'd really want to keep to be a difficult task. Most of the ones being sold by LFSs today, IMO, rate as garbage.

You might look around and be able to find a few types of plants that will tolerate the brackish water. You have a lot of latitude here because you can keep the water at the lower SG.

If you need a rough estimate on how much salt to use, you can figure a pound of salt makes about 3 gal of water at 1.025. So if you need water at 1.005, you would need 1/5 the amount of salt. That 1 pound of salt will make about 15 gal of water at 1.005, or about 7 1/2 gal at 1.010. With that information, you can figure how much you need for any amount of water and SG.

 

[Frankie]

Great stuff Dave.
One thing to keep in mind is accuracy in salinity depends on your ability to measure salt content correctly. I highly recommend using a refractometer for this adventure.