The Puffer Forum

It's approximately 3pm in the afternoon on Friday. I've purchase a 1.45lb(659 g) of "Oceanic"'s "Natural Sea Salt Mix. It was only about $4 @ pet-smart.

The bag said to pour the entire contents of the bag into 5 gallon's of non-chlorinated water. So I got out my 5 gallon tank with screened lid on it and filled it with water, put 5ml of stress zyme (to get rid of the chlorine and nitrite), poured in the entire bag of "natural sea salt mix" into the tank and set up 2 individual air pumps with air stones so that the bubbles would help the salt mix it up.

I'm not really seeing the salt mix up all that well. Any further suggestions?

My biggest concern is how to transport the puffer from his tiny 2 gallon octagon tank



into THIS 5 gallon tank...
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PLEASE DO NOT PUT HIM IN THERE!

I described (in excruciating detail) in an earlier post how to mix salt. Never add salt to a tank like this. The tank has to be cycled and the salinity slowly brought up.

What you appear to have is a stock solution of full-strength sea water approx SG 1.025. Put it in a 5 gallon bucket and use it as a stock solution. It will have to be greatly diluted. Start out no higher than SG 1.001 - Use a hydrometer. Cycle with Bio-Spira.

PLEASE DO NOT PUT HIM IN THERE!

I don't intend to jump into anything anymore. My only 2 mistakes were not reading up thoroughly on this saltwater process & buying the puffer before having read up on it. I will no do anything un-rational to my new puffer. I want to enjoy him/it in all it's glory. So in order to do this - i will follow the instructions on the site to a close T before actually acting on things.

I described (in excruciating detail) in an earlier post how to mix salt. Never add salt to a tank like this. The tank has to be cycled and the salinity slowly brought up.

I'm going to have to look up this excruciating detailed description of mixing salt and water because I don't remember seeing it. Either that - or i'm just getting to old and my memory is failing me.

What you appear to have is a stock solution of full-strength sea water approx SG 1.025. Put it in a 5 gallon bucket and use it as a stock solution. It will have to be greatly diluted. Start out no higher than SG 1.001 - Use a hydrometer. Cycle with Bio-Spira.

Instead of finding a 5 gallon bucket to store this heavy saltwater in, I'll merely keep in in the 5gallon tank that it's already inside of. I have a 10gallon aquarium in another room that i can setup easily.

So, what your saying is: I need to set up that 10 gallon tank with freshwater (take the chlorine out). Allow the tank to cycle for a little while (say 1-3 days). After this - I need to slowly add some saltwater from my 5 gallon tank into the 10 gallon tank until, using my hydrometer that i bought with the "oceanic" salt mix, i reach a salinity of SG 1.001. I can do that.

After I've reached my SG 1.001, can i then gently remove my puffer and put him/it into the 10gallon?[/quote]

Cycling a tank has nothing to do with running it w/o fish for a few days. The easiest/quickest way to cycle a tank is by buying live nitrifying bacteria that is in the Bio-Spira packet. It should be added directly into your filter & the fish should be added immediately afterwards.

I was referring to my post yesterday morning of 0902 in response to your post of 0837 in the "up and down" thread. Maybe excruciating was too severe. Sorry about my choice of words - just trying to help. I talked about the brands of salt which led to a dicussion of Tropic Marin salt, etc.

At this point, you have a concentrated stock solution of salt water. You can put it in some other container and take a little bit out and dilute it, or since you have to start over anyway, put some into the 10 gallon tank and dilute it.

Full strength salt water is about 35ppt salt. Your puffer should go into no more than 1 to 3 ppt to start. Most aquarists don't have salinity meters. They measure the density of the water and coupled with the temperature, infer the salinity. (There are specific gravity to salinity conversion tables on the internet) At 24 degrees C, about 76 degrees F, a SG of 1.0010 is 3.1 ppt salt, less than one-tenth full strength seawater. If a hydrometer was a fine enough instrument, it would be nice to read 1.0005 to start from fresh water and then each week, increase the salinity by adding slightly more saline water (increase by no more than .001-.002).

At his age, your fish should be in low salinity - what we call "brackish" water. As he approaches adulthood, he can be "weaned" to nearly full strength salt water. The hyperosmotic shock resuting from a direct move from freshwater to full strength sea water would be a horrible way to die.

Just FYI, Oceanic salt has a notoriously bad rep IME. If you can, I'd move to another brand.

So I follow the directions on the back of my "Deep Six" yellow packaging that say lower the hydrometer into the water until the "dam" is covered with water. This is weird.

I think I'm having a REALLY rough and bumpy start with the saltwater exploration. And somehow I knew it would be this way.

How much water, exactly, DO you need to put in this clear plastic hydrometer in order to read it accurately?

You actually do need to follow things to a "T" before acting.


Kim

to mix the salt a power head works, or just stir it around until it dissolves nicely.

OK start with this info
submerge the hydrometer fully into the water and tap the swing arm to get off any bubbles etc. All the water it does not need will drain off when you lift it up. that is OK

then set it on a flat surface and take a reading.

whatever it says is the starting point for this formula. but I am assuming it is 1.025 if it isn't re post your salinity and i will help you get the right amount. We are shooting for 1.003 or less if you want to do the figuring yourself.

if it really is 1.025 (natural sea water) or NSW then by putting it into a ten gallon tank and filling the rest you half the salinity to 1.0125 that isn't bad,
but too high still for the puffer.

you need to start with 1/2 of the 5 gallons (2.5 gallons)and mix in fresh water for the rest of the ten gallons. that will get you 1.003 SG (specific gravity.)
that is a very good starting point. also please pick up BIO-SPIRA (in caps so you know what the actual full name is) for Freshwater. that will cycle the ten gallon faster (add the puffer with the bio-spira and in 3 days cycled tank. )

once you get past there please re post and I will help you further.