Advise about low end marine aquariums

daviem · Jun 9, 2020

Hi, I currently have a brackish aquarium with a salinity of 1.006, the issues I have is the aquarium isnt cycling and supplement bacteria isnt working, I have myself come to the conclusion that the bacteria in these bottles are adapted to fresh or marine environments and so are not surviving the brackish water.

Another issue I have is the aquarium testing kits are hard to come by for brackish water and I have to look around finding what I can that works with fresh and marine aquariums, and finally I have an issue with bacteria blooms I dont know what product to use saltwater versions or freshwater versions of or if either would work because theyre usually based on beneficial bacteria or possible harmful chemicals. So as my fish can be acclimated to full marine water eventually I wanted to ask questions about beneficial bacteria and liverock. What is the lowest salinity that beneficial saltwater bacteria survive on? and the same for coralline purple algae and any other important marine bacteria for the cycling process?

To sort these issues out I basically want to kick start the aquarium into a marine aquarium raising the SG to try and stabilise it but as my fish are very young and usually full marine as adults( still waiting on solid advise if its ok to have them in full saltwater) so I dont want to raise the SG any higher then I have to.

Some websites suggest SG 1.012-1.024 others state SG 1.20-1.026.

what do you guys think?

Brew12 · Jun 10, 2020

daviem said:
Hi, I currently have a brackish aquarium with a salinity of 1.006, the issues I have is the aquarium isnt cycling and supplement bacteria isnt working, I have myself come to the conclusion that the bacteria in these bottles are adapted to fresh or marine environments and so are not surviving the brackish water.

Another issue I have is the aquarium testing kits are hard to come by for brackish water and I have to look around finding what I can that works with fresh and marine aquariums, and finally I have an issue with bacteria blooms I dont know what product to use saltwater versions or freshwater versions of or if either would work because theyre usually based on beneficial bacteria or possible harmful chemicals. So as my fish can be acclimated to full marine water eventually I wanted to ask questions about beneficial bacteria and liverock. What is the lowest salinity that beneficial saltwater bacteria survive on? and the same for coralline purple algae and any other important marine bacteria for the cycling process?

To sort these issues out I basically want to kick start the aquarium into a marine aquarium raising the SG to try and stabilise it but as my fish are very young and usually full marine as adults( still waiting on solid advise if its ok to have them in full saltwater) so I dont want to raise the SG any higher then I have to.

Some websites suggest SG 1.012-1.024 others state SG 1.20-1.026.

what do you guys think?

I'm not familiar with brackish water systems or fish, but what indication do you have that the tank isn't cycling?

daviem · Jun 10, 2020

I have never had any nitrite or nitrate readings despite adding stability as recommended from two different bottles incase one was a dud. But I get ammonia spikes and the filters have gathered enough in them for some cycling to have occurred by now.

Brew12 · Jun 10, 2020

daviem said:
I have never had any nitrite or nitrate readings despite adding stability as recommended from two different bottles incase one was a dud. But I get ammonia spikes and the filters have gathered enough in them for some cycling to have occurred by now.

It sounds like you have something that is consuming the ammonia directly, such as algae. It is also possible that the bacteria are processing the ammonia and nitrite correctly but that something else such as algae or a different bacteria are consuming the nitrate.
Either way, as long as ammonia isn't building up in your system I wouldn't worry about not having a buildup of nitrate.

flabryth · Jun 10, 2020

daviem said:
Hi, I currently have a brackish aquarium with a salinity of 1.006, the issues I have is the aquarium isnt cycling and supplement bacteria isnt working, I have myself come to the conclusion that the bacteria in these bottles are adapted to fresh or marine environments and so are not surviving the brackish water.

Another issue I have is the aquarium testing kits are hard to come by for brackish water and I have to look around finding what I can that works with fresh and marine aquariums, and finally I have an issue with bacteria blooms I dont know what product to use saltwater versions or freshwater versions of or if either would work because theyre usually based on beneficial bacteria or possible harmful chemicals. So as my fish can be acclimated to full marine water eventually I wanted to ask questions about beneficial bacteria and liverock. What is the lowest salinity that beneficial saltwater bacteria survive on? and the same for coralline purple algae and any other important marine bacteria for the cycling process?

To sort these issues out I basically want to kick start the aquarium into a marine aquarium raising the SG to try and stabilise it but as my fish are very young and usually full marine as adults( still waiting on solid advise if its ok to have them in full saltwater) so I dont want to raise the SG any higher then I have to.

Some websites suggest SG 1.012-1.024 others state SG 1.20-1.026.

what do you guys think?

Bacteria will thrive in a range of parameters some will take more time than others for the numbers to get to where you need them. Remember there is bacteria of this type in our coastal waters so it does exist. Just get your tank to the desired parameters and work from there. It is not going to be easy until you find the right group that has experience with this type of tank but these groups like the bacteria do exist.

daviem · Jun 12, 2020

Ok thank you, I have had some expert advise from people who know a lot about the type of fish I keep so it’s helped I know when and how much to increase the salinity by for suitable marine bacteria to start growing and no harm to come to the fish, I also know that my fish when adults would be happy with a salinity of 1.020 But can tolerate full saltwater SG so I would like to keep the fowlr aquarium at the lower SG of 1.020 however I like coralline algae, can it grow at that salinity if introduced into the aquarium?