Keeping Plants in Brackish Water. A Summary of a 2009 Experiment.

This is a quick summary of an experiment I did in 2009. I find that most plants will survive in salt. You'll likely be surprised at how many common aquarium plants are, to some degree brackish. Most all do tolerate salts to some extent. All those that I listed can do well at the lower end of brackish range... near densities of 1.008-.010 The list below are the ones I have kept (and still keep) in such circumstances: (BW)

Anacharis, Anubias, Bacopa, Cabomba, Hornwort, Water Sprite, Cryptocoryne, Echinodorus Hairgrass, "E" type, Hygrophila polysperma, Java Fern, Foxtail, Banana Plant, Sagittaria, Vallisneria (Jungle Val).

I had two brackishwater tanks durring this experiment, one heated and one not. (Mostly cause I dropped and broke my heater, lol) the heated tank stayed at 76F, and the non-heated would be 72F in the day, and drop to 66F at night, in the winter it would drop to 57-60F (I like it very cool while I sleep lol). I didnt see any difference in the plant growth or anything. (Seeing that in nature the water temp changes, I figured that it would not affect the plants.)

These plants were in dirted, sand capped tanks, 1.008 - 1.010 salt level, medium light, and dosed seachem flourish with the weekly water changes, pH around 7.6. (1.005 is what is considered the "normal" for brackish water.) (1.025 is ocean water.)

 

Oh one other thing, you have to acclimate the plants to the brackish water, just like fish. Going from freshwater to some salt will shock and kill the plants. (they quite literally melt. I mean melt, as in turn it a slimy film outline of a plant.)

Views: 106

Comment by Alexander Newman on December 1, 2012 at 6:00pm
This is a great post.
Comment by Faith-Magdalene Austin on December 2, 2012 at 7:13pm

I don't have a brackish tank but I wondered a while back if I needed to remove the very plants you mentioned before treating for ich with API salt and heat. This post was helpful. I looked up more info on these very plants which confirms what you said. Thanks for the post. 

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