Help? Brackish setup for GSP

[Pufferpunk]

add salt and measure using refractometer till .004

There's no way you're going to get a correct reading on that right away. You're gonna have to mark down how much salt you add to reach a certain SG by morning (after mixing all night) & calculate from that. It'll be easier to add more if necessary, than dilute. A rough estimate is it takes around a cup of salt to raise the SG .005. Eventually, when you've got the SG whee you want it, you'll always know how much salt to add for WC. I know to keep my 29g F8 tank at ~1.005, I have to add 1 3/4 cups of salt to a 50% WC.

[Dadof4]

Increase the specific gravity by .002 per week, NO FASTER, with your weekly water changes. Do 50% changes. The first batch should be 1.004, so the result in the tank is 1.002. The next would be 1.008, so you'd get 1.004 in the tank... and so on. Keep going until you're where you want to be.

You'll need a hydrometer or refractometer for the measuring.

This will not work past the first time you raise your SG! If you do the math: you have 50% of the tank will be 1.002 the other half will be 1.008. Add together and average, what do you get? 1.002+1.008=1.010 Divide by 2 and you get 1.005 and a dead biofilter.....Dead biofilter=increased ammonia=puffer illness=possibly dead or permanently damaged puffer.....

Here's the correct way to do this:

When you bring up your SG, LGP is correct, you need to bring it up by .002 or less per week. Also please don't add salt directly to your aquarium.

The reason you couldn't find an article on how to do this is that the article is still sitting on my hard drive being re-written and I've been a lazy slacker lately!

Here's the basics.

Equipment needed:
1 container that is equal to 75% of the water volume in your tank.
Marine salt (obviously )
Hydrometer that starts at 1.000 or a refractometer (best investment you will make)
1 powerhead
1 heater
1 bottle dechlorinator

Process:
1.) Fill container with water equal to 50% of you tank volume
2.) Add Salt-start with roughly 1/2 cup per 5 gallons~give a stir by hand to make sure all the salt is off the bottom of the container
3.) Declorinate according to manufacturers instructions
4.) Place heater in container (use a submersible one, don't use a non submersible one, trust me on this.....)
5.) Add power head and plug in
6.) let water mix for roughly an hour
7.) Use Hydrometer or Refractometer to test SG.
8.) If the SG is what you want it to be, continue to let the water mix for about 24 hours to make sure ALL the salt is dissolved. If not add either salt to bring it up or water to bring it down.
9.) Do a 50% water change like normal but add in the newly mixed salt water.

[mrgreen]

My SG gets lower every time I do a 50% w/c. Or at least, seems to. That is, after I add the other 50% fresh (treated) water. So I add some more salt and let sit for 5 mins and retest. (I have a small powerhead just for water movement around the tank, which it seems like helps with the salt.) Is this a bad idea?
My ammonia has been running zero the last two weeks.

[Dadof4]

How long are you letting the water mix and at what temp? Are you adding salt directly to the tank? What are you using to measure SG?

[mrgreen]

I let it mix about 10 minutes before using a swing-arm to measure the SG. Yes, I add the salt to the tank, but it might be better to add it to my bucket and stir a lot, instead?

[LilGreenPuffer]

I am mathematically challenged... This is not adding up in my head: "Add together and average, what do you get? 1.002+1.008=1.010 Divide by 2"

[Dadof4]

Durrrr .....I'm tired and in pain, ignore my math...that should read "Add together and average, what do you get? 1.002+1.008=2.010 Divide by 2 and you get 1.005 and a dead biofilter.....Dead biofilter=increased ammonia=puffer illness=possibly dead or permanently damaged puffer....."

[LilGreenPuffer]

Maybe you should cut back on the Oxycotin or whatever it was?

The math makes somewhat less sense to me now... Oh, dear...

[Dadof4]

I let it mix about 10 minutes before using a swing-arm to measure the SG. Yes, I add the salt to the tank, but it might be better to add it to my bucket and stir a lot, instead?

Ok, the water needs to mix over 24 hours and you shouldn't add salt directly to the tank, you can burn the fishes gills...Read the mixing list I posted above for the easiest way...

[Dadof4]

Maybe you should cut back on the Oxycotin or whatever it was?

The math makes somewhat less sense to me now... Oh, dear...

You are correct on the medication but the problem is is that I'm at work and can't take it.

Ok, you are mixing two different concentration solutions in equal parts. Average is calculated by adding a group of numbers and then dividing by the count of those numbers. So, we are adding two solutions together (1.002 + 1.008) getting the total (2.010) and dividing by the count of the numbers added together (2) so: 1.002 + 1.008= 2.010.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Now that makes sense. Well, sometimes it does. Other times, I look at it and I'm like, wuuuuut? all over again. The problem is, the other way still makes sense, too.

Maybe I should just quit now...

[Dadof4]

Nah, don't quit now! I'm just starting to have fun! I loves me the maths!

[LilGreenPuffer]

I have to live with a math professor (dad). I can live without more of it. Urgh.