How can you do it gradually in the begining that wouldn't take a lot of time just as much time as cycling it so IMO why not do both...
No responce in brackish section. Question
- Thread starter xxblwn408
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It's a sliding scale, not simply black and white, with only two types of nitrobacter/nitrosomonas bacteria for FW and SW, respectively. There's a whole range of nitrifying bacteria that are each adapted to certain ranges of the SG scale from FW to SW. If you make the changes gradually enough, there should be a critical mass of bacterial culture to keep ammonia and nitrites at zero. I've done it before and have tested each step of the way.Dominuslive;492699; said:
How would you change the SG gradually in a cnverted tank by adding M. salt to the tank with the fish in it? I dont think that would be very good...
I keep a succesful brackish tank and while I don't keep up with all of the different problems that can occur with water changes I've found that keeping the beneficial bacteria alive is crucial to a healthy tank.
I don't believe that the spike or drop in salinity affects these fish at all! In their natural habitat, these fish that live in estuaries and costal regions go through salinity changes twice daily! And depending on how far they travel in their range, can go from full sea strength to fresh in a matter of minutes.
When doing water changes, I take 2 of the 3 sponge filters out and put them in a 5gal bucket of old water. (The sponges serve as prefilters to the canister tank and as biological filtration.) To change my water, I use tap water from the sink coming in at one end and a siphon with a gravel cleaner dumping the water out at an even rate of exchange.
I start the sponge filtration with the sponge in the tank and begin adding my salt to raise the salinity back to where it was.
I've found that keeping the sponges in the tank during the water changing process does kill off the bacteria. The drop in salinity and or the chlorine is the culprit. But when that happens, it's New Tank Syndrom and all sorts of spikes to contend with all over again.
So it's not the salinity that's a problem to these fish, but the bacteria colony should be well established and healthy.
I don't believe that the spike or drop in salinity affects these fish at all! In their natural habitat, these fish that live in estuaries and costal regions go through salinity changes twice daily! And depending on how far they travel in their range, can go from full sea strength to fresh in a matter of minutes.
When doing water changes, I take 2 of the 3 sponge filters out and put them in a 5gal bucket of old water. (The sponges serve as prefilters to the canister tank and as biological filtration.) To change my water, I use tap water from the sink coming in at one end and a siphon with a gravel cleaner dumping the water out at an even rate of exchange.
I start the sponge filtration with the sponge in the tank and begin adding my salt to raise the salinity back to where it was.
I've found that keeping the sponges in the tank during the water changing process does kill off the bacteria. The drop in salinity and or the chlorine is the culprit. But when that happens, it's New Tank Syndrom and all sorts of spikes to contend with all over again.
So it's not the salinity that's a problem to these fish, but the bacteria colony should be well established and healthy.
