The Puffer Forum

just tried changing my 154 litre tank fw to bw and done my mix and added it to the tank, now the reading off the hole tank is 1.003.
for the first step of the change is this to much that it will damage my bacteria in my filter, i no it was ment to be a 1.002 step but it ended up as 1.003

what fish do you have in the tank? i dont know if an extra .001 would make the bacteria all die off. maybe a tiny bit extra but i dont think it will have traumatic changes. how long ago did you start the conversion over to BW? how did you mix the salt up?

hi, i have 2 gsp at 2 inches long and 3 black mollies, i mixed the salt in a seperate container untill i could not see anymore salt then let it sit for a wile then poured it very slowly into the tank.
do you think i should do a water change to reduce the tank by 1.001?

sorry i forgot to say, i added the salt about an hour ago

I dont see how .001 could harm anything. I would think it would change that much between water changes as the water evaporates. But I dont know salt

true salt dont evaporate but i like to keep my tank topped up so the water level dont drop.

i have an eheim 2075 full off media running the tank which is over 3 times more filteration than i need on this tank and its been running for along time b4 ive started to make it a bw tank.
im just hoping theres enough bacteria in the filter to cope with 1.003 at 1 hit, and its the first time salt has gone in there.

Although I don't think you'll destroy your biofilter with this, I suggest mixing with a powerhead overnight next time. See the BW Mixing stick here, in this forum for more info.

i agree i will get a powerhead and also il get a refractometer as my hydrometer keeps giving me different readings and some times it gives the reading at 1.000 as if theres no salt in there but the salt is well mixed as its been in the tank for a good couple of hours now, but 8 out of 10 times it says 1.003 so im going with that even tho 1 or 2 times its been alot higher.

I would definitely keep an eye on your WP bc most FW/Tap water is below 1.000 so say for instance you tap water is 0.988 then adding .004- or more can definetly cause a mini cycle. I kno this bc the SG raise I did the same thing causing a mini cycle. To be safe Id watch the ammonia and nitrite readings. See the first time raising the SG in a tank you should raise it to 1.000 then 2 weeks later 1.002 and so on...

HUH??? How can water be <1.000?

Inaccurate swing arm or bulb hydrometer. Or readings.

Totally joking but 0.988 must be 'holy water' because it's purer than pure

lol

Since by definition highly purified water is 1.000, a reading below that is by definition inaccurate. If you get such readings, it is not the water, it is the test.

cheers all for your help, i was really worried that i had damaged my bio load so took some water to my lf and used a refractometer instead and the readings was only just 1.002 so all is ok and ive been checking my water and all is fine.
the hydrometer was giving me some really high readings from 1.003 even upto 1.010 so im getting rid of it even tho it was brand new and replacing it with a refractometer.