Just the right amount of salt.

[Auctionedllama]

Hi TPF! I have a question about salt. I'm about to get a 35 gallon tank going for my puffer, and I need to know how much salt I put in each water change to raise it up .002 each time so I don't hurt him. Like, how many tsp's per gallon, or whatever measurement. Although he's only 2 inches, I'm going to make a full marine environment, because it seems many people have had success like that. Thanks!

[Mrs.Puff]

I'm not really good at this because im just about to start my brackish water with my puffers also, but what you should do is put regular tap water in a bucket and add some marine salt to it and make sure you put a powerhead or an airator in the bucket overnight. Than test the water. If yours is a 35g and you want it at .002 than you have to add enough salt to the bucket so that when you dump it in the tank it is .002. So say its a 5g bucket and your tank is 35g. according to my box of Instant Ocean 1.5lbs of the salt is formulated to create 5g of saltwater at a specific gravity of 1.002, so it basically takes some math to measure it out. You just have to figure out how much salt it takes in the bucket to make your tank no more than .002, which means you will have to add quite a bit of salt to the bucket. Be sure you let it sit overnight with an airator or powerhead to get the oxygen flowing, and also, your specific gravity will be inaccurate if you test it right away(i learned from that) so let it sit overnight and test it in the morning.

[Dadof4]

Actually no matter what the packaging says there is no magic amount to add to a set number of gallons. Every salt manufacturer is different and even then there can be diiferences with in batches from the same manufacturer. Best is when you get a new bag/box/bucket of salt, start mixing slowly and caution to the lowside at first. Generally 1/2 cup per 5 gallons gets you roughly 1.002 so I would start under that amount.