Pothos in Opae Ula Shrimp Tank

[funnyCAT140]

It's been awhile since I've posted on here, but I received an ecosphere fo Christmas. I'm moving them to a 1 gallon tank since ecospheres are pretty much a death sentence for the little guys. My question is, do you guys think a pothos could grow in brackish water with only its roots in the water?

 

[kinyonga]

I'd give it a try!

 

[funnyCAT140]

I'd give it a try!

I haven't found any info about it on the internet. I'll set up a separate half gallon fish bowl with brackish water and test it out I guess! I'll let you know what happens. Pothos is a pretty hardy plant.

 

[kinyonga]

I'm betting it will be fine!

 

[funnyCAT140]

The experiment has begun! Finally got my marine salt, nano marimo algae, and other supplies, so now I'm getting the pothos used to growing in water again since I had it potted. Once it gets adjusted and the marimo balls settle in, I'm going to slowly add some of the marine salt in over a span of days/weeks until I reach brackish levels with a specific gravity of around 1.010.

 

[tjs028]

Java moss would be another good option to add in. Shrimp love it and It would do well at that specific gravity as long as it was acclimated slowly.

 

[funnyCAT140]

Java moss would be another good option to add in. Shrimp love it and It would do well at that specific gravity as long as it was acclimated slowly.

That's what I've heard. I still have some more things to buy before I start setting up the tank. I'm goin to get a hydrometer and water conditioner tomorrow, and I feel like there was something else that I just can't remember right now lol.

 

[tjs028]

Are you planning to use an auto top off to account for eveporation or just manually top off?

 

[funnyCAT140]

Are you planning to use an auto top off to account for eveporation or just manually top off?

Manually

 

[tjs028]

I said the same with my latest nano tank but the swings got to be too much to stay on top of lol. I can’t imagine that would be much of a problem for a hardy tidal pool species such H. rubra though. Best of luck on your build!

 

[funnyCAT140]

I know that brackish water has to be monitored closely until you get a system in place though, and that you can't keep adding the same amount of salt and water each time because the specific gravity will start to raise.

 

[funnyCAT140]

I said the same with my latest nano tank but the swings got to be too much to stay on top of lol. I can’t imagine that would be much of a problem for a hardy tidal pool species such H. rubra though. Best of luck on your build!

Thank you! I'm homeschooled, and since I'm home during the day I have the time to take care of all of my animals and their enclosures.

 

[tjs028]

I just use a aqualifter pump with an adjustable airline valve on the end to keep my nano reef tanks in check. I adjust it to one drip per second and set it on a digital timer to drip for the same duration every day. It takes a few test runs to figure out how long to run it, but it works fairly well.

 

[tjs028]

Thank you! I'm homeschooled, and since I'm home during the day I have the time to take care of all of my animals and their enclosures.

And no problem your little shrimp look to be in good hands.

 

[funnyCAT140]

I forgot to give updates. So I got a little impatient and went ahead and bumped the salinity levels to 1.005. The plants are doing amazing!

 

[funnyCAT140]

The plants are doing awesome at 1.010!

 

[funnyCAT140]

I think I've decided to take the pothos out. Something is causing the nitrite levels to go way up, so I'm going to remove it and see if that helps.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

I think I've decided to take the pothos out. Something is causing the nitrite levels to go way up, so I'm going to remove it and see if that helps.

That's interesting.

 

[funnyCAT140]

It was definitely the pothos causing the nitrites. It started turning yellow and looks kind of pitiful now. So I think my conclusion is that they can take salinity up to 1.008 s/g but anymore than that and it's a slow release of nitrites and then it dies.

 

[Mr. J hahaha]

It was definitely the pothos causing the nitrites. It started turning yellow and looks kind of pitiful now. So I think my conclusion is that they can take salinity up to 1.008 s/g but anymore than that and it's a slow release of nitrites and then it dies.

Did you cycle the system before you added any live stock to it? I have kept reef tanks for many years before I couldn’t do the water changes anymore. It is very common for a spike in ammonia, nitrites, nitrates in a new setup. It usually takes a month to run its course. Also pothos definitely wouldn’t like the salt in the water. Try mangroves they are a plant that can be in either fresh or salt and yes brackish too. You can buy them pretty cheap on eBay.