The Puffer Forum

so for the time being before i can get my bigger tank, i still need to be converting my tank slowly to brackish by adding salt. my question is how much should i add at a time (the man at the LFS said put a small dish with salt in the tank but didnt give specifics) and how often should i be adding. i know it said to raise .002 weekly but im not sure how much salt that would require every week. also, i know (NOW) that you should be using marine salt and not aquarium salt, but if i already started adding aquarium salt is it too late to switch to marine salt?

No it isn't too late. Aquarium salt shouldn't harm anything...how much did you add? If you added a lot you may want to do a 50% FW water change. Please reveiw this post about brackish water mixing.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19348

Do you have a refractometer to measure the salinity?

Either hydrometer or refractometer.

i havent added much, just about 2 tablespoons every week when i do water changes and then yesterday when i purchased the f8's and he told me to put a small dish in with salt i did that and the dish had about 4 tablespoons in it and that is already dissolved. i still need to purchase a hydrometer soon

with aquarium salt your SG will not go up, got to use a sea salt like instant ocean.

ok so the marine salt is a must, gotcha. so then when i get that and start REALLY converting, use the technique of mixing in the bucket with salt then adding to the tank when i do the water changes right? (using the formulas on the chart link above)

correct

PolishPuff wrote:with aquarium salt your SG will not go up, got to use a sea salt like instant ocean.

Although the incorrect salt for BW, aquarium salt will still register on a hydrometer/refractometer.

mixie mixie till your hydrometer reads what you want

i think i got the hang of mixing the water. i did a water change last night and it came out perfect! thanx everyone for your help

No problem Brooklyn! Sounds like you got everything under control