The Puffer Forum

For the gsp im getting i obviously know that you need brackish water for it but i have tried to find an article to tell you the steps to making brackish water and i haven't found much. Can someone give me steps to making brackish water or if there is an article on it can you give me a link to it. Also is brackish water just having fresh water and adding salt to it?

Brackish water is fresh water with marine salt added to it. Basically the recipe (the one that I use anyway) is 2 tablespoons of marine salt to every 1 gallon of water. But if you've got a filter that's already mature, then you must start with just a little salt and build up to a higher amount, otherwise you will kill the good bacteria that's built up in your filter -- of course you don't want that to happen.

I hope this has been helpful to you.

Just to add….

Undissolved marine salt will irritate your fish, so don’t add salt directly to your tank unless you do so before you add fish. Mix the salt when doing a water change and leave it to dissolve fully for about 24hrs before adding it to your tank. If possible add something to your mixing container to circulate the water during this time. An airstone will help this, but a powerhead or spare internal filter is better. You’ll also want to heat the water so that it matches the temperature in the tank.

Do you have a hydrometer or refractometer to measure the salinity of the water? If not I’d recommend getting one. The best way to determine whether or not you have added the desired amount of salt is to measure the salinity of the water. It also allows you to monitor the salinity of your tank water, which can fluctuate due to evaporation of the water.

Is the tank set up and matured yet?

Have you read the GSP article in our Library? Good info there about SG.

wait i got a question when i start cycling my tank do i start with freshwater and add .002 salinity every week or do i just start with a certain salinity and cycle.

I always start with freshwater and then add a little each time I do a water change -- but I don't start adding salt until my tank is cycled properly. Someone else may have a different method though.

I am cycling mine as BW. Has taken 25 days so far though!! But I see light at the end of the tunnel. I checked with the lfs where the puffers are coming from & matched my SG to theirs.

so i should first cycle in fresh water and then once im done my fishless cycle in 10-15 days i should start adding .002 salt every week?

Like I said, someone else may have another idea about it. But I prefer to get my tank cycled first and then I change it over to brackish.

thx schismy007 im probally gonna use your way

any1 got any other methods of cycling or steps to making brackish water?

Also can anyone answer this question? If i do start cycling with brackish water do i acclimate .002 without changing the water because its cycling?

I agree with schismy007. Start with FW and then after the tank is well cycled, start adding marine salt to bring you SG up by less than .002 per week. You can do water changes during a fishless cycle because you are not taking away all the ammonia so you won't interrupt the cycle. I've got an article written and I'm in the midst of checking the grammar and re-writing certain parts so the are more clear.

I'll start from scratch, like you you know nothing about brackish water, and describe the process:

Things you'll need:
1) Container at least 3/4 size the total volume of your aquarium.
2) Marine salt
3) Water
4) A measuring cup, plastic or glass preferably (metal corrodes)
5) Hydrometer or Refractometer (refractometer is more expensive but well worth it)
6) Heater
7) Power head of some sort

How to:
1) Fill the container with water equaling 50% of your tank volume
2) Slowly add salt, you have to experiment with how much to add. Each salt manufacturer is different and even then, there is a difference between batches from the same manufacturer.
3) Add heater. Make sure it is one that can be submerged (don't ask how I found this out because I won't tell!)
4) Submerge power head and turn it on (again, read number 3)
5) Make sure all the salt is dissolved in the container. If you see some sitting on the bottom, give it a good stir and check back in a while.
6) Once you do not see any salt in standing on the bottom of the container, let the water mix for a few hours.
7) Check SG and adjust accordingly.
8) Let the water mix over night to make sure all the salt has dissolved.
9) Do a 50% water change. Replace what you took out with what you mixed and viola' brackish water!

The trick is to not raise things more than .002 per week. So, based on a 50% water change, the SG of the first batch of water you mix should be 1.004. Now the question is what is the next one and how do you figure it out? I use the formula:

(a+b)/2=c.
a= your current SG
b= what you need your next mix to be
c= your target SG

So if your tank is at 1.002 and you want to raise to 1.004 the equation should look like this: (1.002+b)/2=1.004
I'll let you do the math.....

What's the benefit in cycling fresh before changing to brackish?

I've cycled all my tanks at the SG that I wanted and it seems to have done the job but I'm interested in finding out why others do things differently.

Iliveinazoo wrote:What's the benefit in cycling fresh before changing to brackish?

I've cycled all my tanks at the SG that I wanted and it seems to have done the job but I'm interested in finding out why others do things differently.

Honestly, not a big benefit. I prefer it because with a FW cycle you know your FW test kits are going to be accurate, getting in to brackish water I've had inconsistent results.

And that's the way I learned to do it and I'm more comfortable that way