The Puffer Forum

ok,

i'm getting confused cause i'm not good at math so can someone explain how much salt per gallon to put in? right now i have a 10 gal tank (just til the 29 gal is ready) for my GSP, with a biowheel filter. We've been doing 50% water changes every week and i want to be sure i'm doing everything right.

is it 1 teaspoon per gal or what?

What specific gravity are you trying to obtain?

Generally you'll have to figure out for yourself by trial and error how much you'll need.

Personally, I use 3 gallon containers for my replacement water and it takes about 8 tablespoons to get ~1.011 SG using instant ocean.

First, you should read the articles in the Library under "water and filtration". I recommend that you read all of them.

How big is your GSP? Is he in brackish water now? What is the salinity?

The 50% weekly water changes are good (mine are ~ 45-47% but also weekly). The water change is the perfect time to slowly increase your salinity (if he is in FW or low brackish). Do you have a way to measure salinity? Its very hard to do brackish tanks without some way to measure salinity, either a hydrometer, refractometer, or salinity meter.

The salts I've used (Instant Ocean and Coralife at home and Cargill at work) take about 1 cup to raise FW by ~7 to ~9 ppt (full seawater is ~35 ppt) per 5 gallon bucket. The SG of this brackish water would be ~1.004 to 1.005.

If your GSP is in FW or low brackish, you don't want to raise the salinity quickly. I've been increasing by 0.5ppt each week, which would be hard to measure with a hydrometer, easier with a refractometer, and no sweat with a meter. Most people will tell you not to increase salinity by more than a SG of 1.002 per week -I go with much lower increases.

I hope I haven't been too confusing to you. I use ppt because that is the unit for expressing salinity. Almost everybody else uses SG which infers salinity and is "close enough".

Slower increases are not bad. The 0.002 per week increase is the maximum to allow for the shift in nitrification bacterial species from FW to SW species. Any faster and the FW bugs can die off before the SW bugs establish themselves. That figure was purely pragmatic. Several of us have had no issues at that rate, beyond that you can get ammonia or nitrite at detectable levels. Lower rates are always safer, more conservative if you will. If systems must be moved up faster (and the fish drip aclimated), use the appropriate Bio-Spira.

Wembly's only about 1" right now. We've been using aquarium salt and putting 1 rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons. I don't have the hydrometer yet, but since reading up on all this stuff it's next on the list with proper salt. PetSmart is the one who suggested it that way, but I really want to do it right.

I've read most of the articles in the library, but the whole salinity conversion terms were what confused me.

Aquarium salt? egad. I hope from your later statements that you're switching to marine salt, like instant ocean.

You're definately going to need a hydrometer, and better yet a refractometer. I just got mine today and it's night and day. I'd go for the refractometer right off the bat.

You're not the first person to be instructed to use aquarium salt for a BW tank. Unfortunately, you probably won't be the last either.

Marine mixes typically include general instructions for xx amount of salt to make full marine conditions. These guidelines are not precise though and you must use a hydrometer or refractometer to verify the levels before adding the water to your tank. We had several discussions about this on the forum but in general, the variations are due to compaction of the marine mix, absorption of moisture, imprecise measuring of marine mix or water, etc.

The refractometer will have to wait a little bit, but we just got the hydrometer and instant ocean a few minutes ago! I saw in other discussions to raise the salinity slowly, so that's what we'll do, especially since today is water change day.

any other suggestions?

this should make wembly very happy!

any other suggestions?

You may regret that question eventually!

It's good to hear that you picked up the hydrometer and marine mix. Slow and easy with the migration to BW is the way to go, no more than .002/week. Even slower won't hurt and will save you a few bucks in marine mix over he long run. Just increase the SG a little bit with each of your weekly water changes. You may want to read the "Water change math" article in our library to help you figure out how best to do this.

Do you have a test kit for at least PH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? If not, this should high on the list of next purchases. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

With your hydrometer - be sure and rinse it out with tap water before and after using. I use warm tap water because I think the key with keeping these things as accurate as possible is to keep build up off of the swing arm.

Eric

We have the ph kit, but the nitrate kit is definitely next on the list. wembly definitely likes his new water better.

thanks for all your advice! we did the water change very slowly and he really seems to be happier.

i'll have to post pics of wembly soon.

ChesapeakeSwellfish wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:31 am First, you should read the articles in the Library under "water and filtration". I recommend that you read all of them.

How big is your GSP? Is he in brackish water now? What is the salinity?

The 50% weekly water changes are good (mine are ~ 45-47% but also weekly). The water change is the perfect time to slowly increase your salinity (if he is in FW or low brackish). Do you have a way to measure salinity? Its very hard to do brackish tanks without some way to measure salinity, either a hydrometer, refractometer, or salinity meter.

The salts I've used (Instant Ocean and Coralife at home and Cargill at work) take about 1 cup to raise FW by ~7 to ~9 ppt (full seawater is ~35 ppt) per 5 gallon bucket. The SG of this brackish water would be ~1.004 to 1.005.

If your GSP is in FW or low brackish, you don't want to raise the salinity quickly. I've been increasing by 0.5ppt each week, which would be hard to measure with a hydrometer, easier with a refractometer, and no sweat with a meter. Most people will tell you not to increase salinity by more than a SG of 1.002 per week -I go with much lower increases.

I hope I haven't been too confusing to you. I use ppt because that is the unit for expressing salinity. Almost everybody else uses SG which infers salinity and is "close enough".

I have been searching everywhere just trying to find the information that you just provided up until now I've just been using a instant ocean handheld cheap hydrometer but now I just ordered a digital tester that I spent good mo ey on.. the only problem was I didn't no how to read it until I finally just found your post! I really wanted to understand before the thing gets here and I have no idea what I'm looking at. You rock! I have my green spotted puffer Nim ways tank at 1.018 and I have Been slowly increasing my salinity since I got her I've decided it's a her LOL by only one point each week on water change day instead of two and she is doing very well when I first got her she didn't have a single fin on her entire body now they're all grown back she is so happy I have her own private 36 gallon bow front she's loving life and now we'll be living even more thanks to you. Would you recommend a certain time in a puppers life that it should be it all the way up to Marine or is it fine to put them in full Marine it any age? Mine is about two and a quarter inches long. I've only been doing 30% water changes do you think I should increase that I keep her waste cleaned up every day and I have quadruple filtration I have a penguin 350 on their designed for a huge tank as well as a another penguin 150 then a powerhead and two sponge filters. She most definitely seems to love a lots and lots of circulation. Am I correct in saying that I should be at 35 PPT? When I'm complete which it should be another two weeks.