New figure 8's tomorrow...help!

[bodicea]

Hi my LFS called to say my 2 f8's would be in tomorrow...a week early! I have a 25 gallon (I will upgrade to at least a 45 in the next couple of weeks, just looking for a reasonabley priced used tank). The tank I have is fully cycled with some zebra danio's in it that i am going to use (zebras will go in my community tank, don't worry!). it is fully fresh as that is what the LFS has them in now. So...my question is: Should I put some marine sale in tonight? or let them settle first? then how much would you add and how often...about how many tablespoons per gallon get the water to the correct SG and what is the correct SG? I read anywherew betwee1.05 and 1.08???? That seems like a large range??? I have a hydrometer right now and I am going to get a refractometer as well. I am new to puffers (just got three dwarfs a couple of weeks ago) so treat me like I know nothing...'cause I know nothing!

Thanks
Jan

[Christemo]

Were they in fresh or brackish when they were shipped to you? I would take a reading of the water, and leave it at that, then raise the SG of the water .002/week so that the biofilter doesn't crash. There is no tablespoon/gallon equation for adding salt. You have to measure it with the hydrometer/refractometer. I keep my guys at around 1.006, and they seem to like it.

[bodicea]

They will be in fresh...I will measure it but I am assuming it will be zero salt. So how much salt would you suggest I put in each time to raise it by the .002? It is a 25 gallon tank. Just so I have an idea of about how much it should take. so I don't crash the bio filter by accident...

Thanks
Jan

[Christemo]

You must measure the salt using the hydrometer/refractometer. There's no way of saying "one cup to one gallon of water".

[puffertt77]

Hey Jan

I've worked out how many grams of Marine Salt per litre I need to get 1.022 SG for my full marine salt water tank

It's 24.5grams of Marine Salt per liter of water

If you divide 24.5grams by 22 that's 1.1grams (may aswell call it 1gram), so this means you need to add 2 grams of Marine Salt to 1 litre of water to make it 1.002. Remember the water MUST be 25c/76f for the Hydrometer to have the correct reading (Hydrometers are calibrated to work at this water temp)

Try it out in a bucket and see if it works, If it does then you'll need to add 189grams of marine salt to your tank for it to increase by 0.002 (25usG = 94.5L x 2grams per litre = 189grams of Marine Salt)

This means eventually when the tank is up to 1.006 you'll have to add 6grams of salt to every 1 litre of water you change when doing a water change in order for it to be 1.006

Let me know if it works

[Dadof4]

Hey Jan

I've worked out how many grams of Marine Salt per litre I need to get 1.022 SG for my full marine salt water tank

It's 24.5grams of Marine Salt per liter of water

If you divide 24.5grams by 22 that's 1.1grams (may aswell call it 1gram), so this means you need to add 2 grams of Marine Salt to 1 litre of water to make it 1.002. Remember the water MUST be 25c/76f for the Hydrometer to have the correct reading (Hydrometers are calibrated to work at this water temp)

Try it out in a bucket and see if it works, If it does then you'll need to add 189grams of marine salt to your tank for it to increase by 0.002 (25usG = 94.5L x 2grams per litre = 189grams of Marine Salt)

This means eventually when the tank is up to 1.006 you'll have to add 6grams of salt to every 1 litre of water you change when doing a water change in order for it to be 1.006

Let me know if it works

One thing to remember with this is that not every salt mix is identical. It does vary manufacturer to manufacturer and even batch to batch, I've even seen it vary by the bucket.

[puffertt77]

Hey bodicea

Dadof4 has made a very good point there

Are you from the UK?

This is the Marine Salt I use

salt.jpg

Which ever brand of marine salt you use should have on the box how many litres of water it'll treat (remember the ammount of litres stated is full marine water)

My box says it treat's 37L and is 1.24kg in weight, I divided 1.24kg by 37 which came to 24.5grams per litre. I then tried these measurements out and they worked perfectly

Remember that the temperature of the water is the most important part and has to be exact. Even if it's out by 2c this will give you a totally different SG reading

[bodicea]

So, should I take from that , that the tank should be kept at 76F? Don't the puffers like it a bit warmer? I don't want to cook the little buggers!

Jan

[puffertt77]

So, should I take from that , that the tank should be kept at 76F? Don't the puffers like it a bit warmer? I don't want to cook the little buggers!

Jan

Hey Jan

F8's like a temp of between 76f and 84f, so will be ok at 76f.

Basically the higher the temp the higher the SG reading with the same ammount of marine salt in the water/tank. If you want the tank a little warmer then increase it to 80f and just check your SG to make sure the SG hasn't gone over 1.008 (I'd just keep it at 76f though to keep it easier)

[bodicea]

Okay...will do...I think I know what I am doing now, so I will let you knwo how it goes...they should be in at the store by mid day...can't wait!

Jan

[bodicea]

Well they have arrived! They are so great! Now I'm really nervous about adding the salt. I tested the water in the tank when I got them home and there was zero amonia, zero nitrites and 5 ppm nitrate, with the ph at about 8. The water they came in was PH about 7.4. I tested the water in the bag with my hydrometer and it was zero, completely fresh...I added water slowly from the tank into the bag over about three hours before I put them into the tank. I have a 1.45 lbs (658 grams) of marine salt that makes 5 gallons of water at 1.021-1.023 SG. I realize I will have to get more but I just grabbed this at the LFS and it was the biggest size they had. Now I am at a bit of a loss as to how to figure out how much salt to add and how often to get it up the the proper SG...HELP...I KNOW NOT WHAT I DO!!!! and I don't want to blow out the bio filter! Anyway here are some pics...I have not named them yet, though i have been calling them fric and frac (I called my three dwarf puffers flip flop and fly!). Any direction you can give me would be great! Thanks in advance...jan

[Myaj]

Well, the nice thing about salt is that you don't HAVE to add a bunch and raise it fast. Just add a few tablespoons for now.

And get thyself a hydrometer so you can measure it and know what your actual salinity is. A hydrometer is only a few bucks, just be sure to get one that starts at freshwater 1.000, some start higher at 1.015, which won't help you for figure 8 puffers of course

[chubber]

It sounds like your F8's are settled in fresh water so as Myaj says there's no hurry to raise the salinity. I wouldn't add the salt directly to the tank as undisolved salt will act as an irritant (please forgive me if you already know this). Add a few tablespoons to your next water change and ensure that it is all disolved (I leave my for 24 hours with an airstone on). Make a note of how many spoons you added, how much water you have added it to and then measure the salinity of the water in your bucket. Then do your water change and measure the salinity in your tank. If the rise is not as much as you wanted then just add a little more salt next time until you ge the desired result.

This is how I raise the salinity in my tank.

The refractometer is a great peice of kit, much easier to use and read. I bought mine on ebay (a lot cheaper than in the shops).

Hope this helps

[bodicea]

It certanly does help... I will do as instructed!

Thanks
Jan

[bodicea]

So...bad news...one of the figure 8's died tonight. Was fine at about 6 when I fed them, dead by about midnight when I checked on them. Tested the water, zero amonia, zero nitrites, about 10 ppm nitrate, ph at about 8. Now the ph of the water they came in was only about 7.2, but i added water to the bag over about three hours, so not sure if that would have been a problem. Temperature is 79f. I had not added any salt yet. The other one seems fine...I hope nothing happens to him...I'm kind of bummed out....

Jan