Brackish skimming?

[Anonymous]

Have any of you had much luck with a skimmer in a brackish tank?

How about in a tank with even less salinity like 1.002 or less?

 

[Anonymous]

Good question, I've read both yes and no but no definitive answer. That was helpful, wasn't it :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I know it depends on how much organics are in the water but there must be a line somewhere where the skimmer looses enough effectiveness to not be worth the noise.

 

[Anonymous]

That and a lack of surface tension the closer to FW you get (I seem to remember reading).

 

[Anonymous]

Reckon I could dose it with Melafix to get it nice and foamy. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

You just can't get that fine bubble size with freshwater, I'm not sure where the cut off point is. I suspect the more salty the brackish water is the more effective it'll be in general.

 

[Anonymous]

When I was fishing and shrimping I kept a 50 gallon tank full of mud minnows under the boat shed - the salinity was fairly low but there was a lot of organics in the water. I never checked the salinity to be honest.

I want to set up a tank for Monos and the girls want some Sailfin Mollys so I thought it would be a fun project to gradually increase the salinity towards the comfort zone of the Monos.

Will beneficial bacteria that is established in very low salinity survive the gradual increase? Are they even the same bacteria as in a saltwater tank?

 

[Anonymous]

When I was fishing and shrimping I kept a 50 gallon tank full of mud minnows under the boat shed - the salinity was fairly low but there was a lot of organics in the water. I never checked the salinity to be honest.

I want to set up a tank for Monos and the girls want some Sailfin Mollys so I thought it would be a fun project to gradually increase the salinity towards the comfort zone of the Monos.

Will beneficial bacteria that is established in very low salinity survive the gradual increase? Are they even the same bacteria as in a saltwater tank?

pretty much and if you up salinity over a few weeks the airborne bacteria that fill the bill will ramp up to meet the challenge

 

[Anonymous]

What a suck up Andy hey wait, my post count just went up , I didn't really post up there did I

Hi Tracy, how goes the battle? Still work and school FT?

 

[Anonymous]

Morning, Douglas.

 

[Anonymous]

What a suck up Andy hey wait, my post count just went up , I didn't really post up there did I

Hi Tracy, how goes the battle? Still work and school FT?

I had to quit working Doug, so it's just school at the moment. Two more terms and I'm done in May!

 

[Anonymous]

I know it depends on how much organics are in the water but there must be a line somewhere where the skimmer looses enough effectiveness to not be worth the noise.

I'm hardly a brackish guru but from my limited forays, I'd say if the water isn't salty enough to keep macroalgae alive (around 1.012-1.017 give or take) I wouldn't waste time trying a protein skimmer.

That said, protein skimmers are originally a freshwater technology - they were developed for use in sewage treatment plants. So yeah, with enough organics, the salinity of the water is a total non-issue.

 

[Anonymous]

Good to know . In the way back time, I used to keep brackish tanks too. Well, for a short time they were brackish, I'd keep mollies and guppies in them and slowly raise the SG to full salt water and use them to feed seahorses.

 

[Anonymous]

That and a lack of surface tension the closer to FW you get (I seem to remember reading).

IIRC, the more salty, the less surface tension.

 

[Anonymous]

Heh, ya that does look more right