If I convert a established freshwater tank to a brackish tank will I have to cycle to tank again? Or will the bacteria be able to handle the change. I'm talking about maybe .10-.15.
No responce in brackish section. Question
- Thread starter xxblwn408
- Start date
No. The only thing that i see being a problem is if you don't know the salinity of the water, the fish you are bringing into this tank is. Check that first before purchasing and then bring your tank to that level.. And still acclimate to save yourself any worry 
I would just bring the tank slowly to the the alk and saline you are looking for..
I would just bring the tank slowly to the the alk and saline you are looking for..
IMO, fish are far less sensitive to specific gravity changes than are your bacterial culture. I would gradually bring the tank up to your desired SG, increasing it by about 0.001 or 0.002 per day to avoid killing off the bacterial culture. I presume you'll have fish in it to keep producing waste during this process.
I suggest you start from scratch cause when you mix marine salt takes a while before you can add fish plus you must gradually increase the SG, you cant add anymore M.salt with fish in the tank...
I just did this 3 weeks ago. I took the sand that was in my fresh water tank and put it in a new tank. I added the fake plants from my freshwater to the new one also. I added Turbo Start bacteria for saltwater, let it go overnight then added salt to bring it to .10 then I put my fish in a 5 gallon bucket and used the drip method for 2 hours. They are fine. The Turbo Start is great. I did this with my Takifugu Obscurus Puffer and I wouldnt take chances with him. It alll workked out fine and I did alot of research about it. About 6 months worth of research.
I'd like to see this from a scientific POV. I know the nitrifying bacteria are different in saltwater than in fresh (nitrosomonas, nitrospira, nitrobacter, and some other type I cant remember) I would be curious to see what types live in a real life brackish environment, possibly a mix of all 4?
I just converted my hospital tank to brack, for a rescued fish. I keep it cycled by dosing amonia. After the addition of salt I have seen no nitrite or amonia to date, and its been 3 weeks. But Im only at 1.004 , not sure if that would change at higher salinity.
Heres a good read, I haven finished it yet, but will soon
http://www.marineland.com/peerpapers/Hovanec1.pdf#search='nitrifying%20bacteria'
I just converted my hospital tank to brack, for a rescued fish. I keep it cycled by dosing amonia. After the addition of salt I have seen no nitrite or amonia to date, and its been 3 weeks. But Im only at 1.004 , not sure if that would change at higher salinity.
Heres a good read, I haven finished it yet, but will soon
http://www.marineland.com/peerpapers/Hovanec1.pdf#search='nitrifying%20bacteria'
IMO when you add the M.salt to the fresh water set up its like nuking the tank cos the Marine salt in pure form would probably wipe out all FW bacteria..
That's not true. The SG depends on the quantity of salt added. It's not kryptonite!deangelo;492659; said:
If you keep the SG changes to .001 or .002 at a time, you can avoid losing your bacterial culture. I've done it from pure FW (SG 1.000) to half SW (SG 1.010) w/out ill effects. You just have to keep it gradual.
They are 2 different kinds of bacteria, but with gradual change you will still maintain a culture. Hence you are cycling the tank. If you change the SG all at once the established culture will die. So if you change it all at once, you will have to cycle, if you change over time, you are technically cycling......