Converting from fw to bw

[nfored]

I have a 2" GSP that was kept in fresh, he is in fresh now also. I am ready to convert him to brackish, his tank is being filtered with a diy filter using lava rocks right now.

I have three questions.

1:
Should I raise the SG 0.02 per week until I get to 1.08? and keep using my same diy filter?

2:
Should I raise the SG 0.002 per week until I get to 1.08? and then buy 5lbs or 10lbs of live rock from the lfs, then switch out the filter for power head.

3:
Should I put the the GSP in a 5 gallon bucket, empty his tank, fill his tank with salt water that is 1.08, put in 5lbs or 10lbs of live rock with a power head. Then start drip accumulating him like I would do with a new fish? I would like to do option three but I am not sure that I can drip accumulate from 100% fresh water to brackish water using nothing but drip method.

I really want to get a move on this since he was 2+" when I bought him, I put a snail in the tank and the snail is still alive, and he is not waiting, but maybe that because I only have hikria pellets right now. will get some krill on monday.

[xrayjeeper83]

SW is 1.021 and up maxing at around 1.027

You best way is to slowly raise the SG .002 a week till it is SW then remove your FW filters add LR and powerheads.

If you pull everything out, add sw and LR you will have to wait till it cycles before you can add your puffer. Could die in that time frame sitting in a bucket to long.

[nfored]

SW is 1.021 and up maxing at around 1.027

You best way is to slowly raise the SG .002 a week till it is SW then remove your FW filters add LR and powerheads.

If you pull everything out, add sw and LR you will have to wait till it cycles before you can add your puffer. Could die in that time frame sitting in a bucket to long.

Thanks I was confused I thought If I bough cured LR that that would mean that I would have a fully cycled tank since the live rock is the filter. Kinda like adding filter media from another tank when dealing with fresh water. Thanks again I will get started with this guy, I have always wanted a puffer, this is my second GSP the first one I had to return the next day when I found out he was not what they labled him as, since I didn't have the ability to do SW.

My calculations is this will take 11 weeks at 0.002 per week should I be putting some bufffers or anything else in the tank to help him during this long transformation?

[xrayjeeper83]

Is the tank he is in cycled? If so he will be fine.

LR will most likely have some die off which will cause a cycle in the tank if its not taken slowly

[sevenyearnight]

+1
It's *probably, and I say probably because I don't know of any test studies to cite, or any personal experience, but I've heard the GSP's are best kept in the low end of marine <1.023. Again, I don't have any references on this, other than a marine biology student at Clemson gave me this suggestion, so I'm sorry for the vague, unbacked suggestion. But considering they would likely eat any tankmates, such as coral,fish, or inverts that are more sensitive to lower salinity, it's less salt mix at the very least.

[nfored]

There does seem to be some confusion, some say high end Brackish for life some say only til they hit 4" then full marine. I guess though at .002 per week I have a while to figure it out. I ordered the salt online because local stores act like they personally created the salt mix and sell it like its gold I mean they wanted 15.00 for a cheapo hydometer.

[xrayjeeper83]

I keep Bacon at 1.025 but thats because thats what my LFS sells his premixed sw at. She seems to be doing great and it allows me to have corals(which she is amazingly leaving alone)

[sevenyearnight]

Don't forget to take evaporation into consideration, make sure your salinity stays stable. If you never do any freshwater to offs, or a lower salinity water change, it will rise.

[xrayjeeper83]

Ya thats a big deal, your SG will rise quickly if its not topped off enough

[RTR]

I really see no need for high-density for any SW fish other than Red Sea fresh caught specimens.

If anyone knows of ANY real work on when any why GSPs should only be moved to full marine at some age and not another, I would love to see it. It has been some time since I have searched for that and all I found then was pure personal experience. Folks suggest what worked for them. That is valid as such, but totally unscientific. That fact that Plan A worked does not mean that Plan B is bad or will harm the fish. Or that Plan C might not be better still. I have some serious reservations about the validity of personal experience with any given plan if it was not paired with one of or two alternates.

SFAIK, it is important to take care when raising specific gravity by 0.002 per week in the range 1.008 to ~1.012 or 1.014, because that is the transition from one bacterial set to the other. If the tank is mature biologically, the fish can be drip-acclimated to its density drop-wise in hours, not months. The bacteria are slow, the fish are not. And if the tank is mature and you are switching to LR + skimmer + macroalgae reefugium, the LR may need to be added slowly unless you are absolutely certain it pre-adapted to your conditions. All the real data I have seen implies that the fish in general do better longer at lower densities than at Red Sea or mid-oceanic densities, so long as it is ay least 1.021 for the LR. Frankly, I consider higher specific gravities a waste of salt mix for most hobby fish and it is likely to be sub-optimum long term. Some reef inverts may like higher density, but puffers and reef critters do not do very well together, so that is not an issue here.

FWIW, YMMV

[nfored]

My problem is I went and got the salt mix and a power head to use to mix, I couldn't find a hydrometer that will read in 0.002 steps they all started at 0.018 so I am not sure how to go about mixing that correctly.

[sevenyearnight]

The hydrometers normally available at the store usually read 1.000 up to 1.030
The hydrometer will not read .002, but it should read 1.002
What brand(s) are you looking at? I've only seen a teeny tiny one that mounts in the tank that didn't read beyond the ideal saltwater range.

[Pufferpunk]

I did the switch over from FW-SW within 2 years. No hurry. Kept the FW filtration running after I got it to SW. Added the skimmer 1st & then small amounts of LR over months. Then finally gave up the FW filters.

[RTR]

The sort of schedule PP suggests is conservative and so meets my approval. That is especially important with the LR addition, as it allows for some degree of in-system conditioning without a lot of emergency water partials. I like that as no two systems are ever quite identical and some adjustment and re-conditioning is likely. That does apply even when the LR is moved from one system to another even if both are being kept by the same person. I still see some symptoms of an adjustment period.

The skimmer can be added as soon as the system is at full marine density and having it in operation definitely reduces the issues fro minor re-conditioning as the LR is added, as it does remove some DOCs (dissolved organic compounds) well. That is out biggest single lack in conventional FW and BW filtration. DSB (Deep Sand Beds) or plenums can serve that function also BW or FW, but are slow to establish an slow to react. Macroalgae refugia do the same for some nutrients and generate lots of 'pods, so are best used with passive return from them directly to the display, avoiding pod-eating pumps.

The LR when fully conditioned removes a good part of the load on the skimmer, and a macroalge refugium (if used) will reduce the waste still further, giving the best captive water quality we can manage without massive (>50% weekly) water partials.

HTH