The Puffer Forum

Ok bear with me please... I have a GSP and it's in freshwater, I know it needs marine salt. I have a 29 gallon and Jezebel is the only one in there. I have sand, powerhead and a whisper 30 -60 filter. How do I start adding the salt I'm new to this with the salt thing. I have Instant ocean and a hydrometer. Ok just a few questions, I've read so much about this I've made my self brain dead, lol. How much water to I remove out of a 29 gallon to start. I saw some people saying that they put a powerhead and heater in a 5 gallon bucket to mix the salt. Is that correct? What do I do with my FW media in my filter? I have 2 biowheels for my 75 gallon can I take that and switch it it on my 29 cause I want a biowheel for my puffer tank? Of couse switch the media in them too. I don't want to hurt Jezebel so I just want someone to help me before I really mess things up for her. She's doing so good, watched her eat her first piece of shrimp last night
I need to do a water change TODAY, levels high spike with Nitraite and Nitrite could that because I tested about 2 hours after feeding her a fresh piece of shrimp, it was tiny thou very little piece I tore of. Never had my tanks spike that high that quick. My levels were good 3 days ago

Current readings are: ammonia 0, nitrate 20, nitrite .50, ph 7.4

Just did 50% water change, added salt and right now at .002 salt level easier than I thougt, hubby helped so I felt better. I only help him with the water changes on our other tanks so I felt blind going in and trying to do water change and addign salt myself. For the last 30 mins Jezebel has been buzzing around and stops and hover by the glass watching us, so I can already tell a difference withher by adding salt. She's even more perky now, bright color on back and the black that was on her side is going away, something I guess I didn't notice by not having salt in tank.
Will check levels again tonight and see if that helped

The only things you need to remember to do when mixing salt are:
-Use a dechlorinater
-mix it with water in a bucket first and let it dissolve before you add it to your tank, adding salt straight to the tank can cause burns on your fish. So mixing it in a 5gallon bucket with a heater+power head is a good idea.
-Only raise the s.g. by 0.002, that way you don't kill off the bacteria in your tank and cause a mini-cycle, there's no need to remove media or change anything with the filter, the bacteria can adjust to a small increase in s.g.
-Keep an eye on your levels, and if you need to, do another water change. It's better to be safe than sorry. If it spikes, or even rises by one or two, do another water change.

Glad to hear everything went well and your puffer is happy

good to hear your puffer is happy