The Puffer Forum

Hi guys i'm new to this forum and keeping puffer's.

I have been roaming through the pages here trying to understand more about brackish water tanks, however i have a just few questions to clear up before i can start!

I'm going to be purchasing two GSP's very soon and am currently setting up a brackish tank from scratch, ive read through all the salt mixing threads and am happy that i have all the equipment ready to get on with that. However i bought some live aragonite sand which im now slightly confused by as some people recommended to me saying to put in straight from the wet bag, and others are saying that some of the good bacteria cant live in brackish and will need to be rinsed out completly before adding to the tank. I'm just wondering if anyone can clear this up for me.

And if it is possible to keep this type of sand in brackish, as 50% of my tank will be filled freshwater before i add the saltwater mix, should i wait until it is a full tank of salt water before adding the live aragonite sand.

As this is my first brackish set up, my new water conditioner tells me to put in twice the shown freshwater dosage for saltwater, does 1.0002 count for double dosage or should i wait until i have a higher SG.

Sorry if i sound paranoid, i just really want to get all of this set up correctly now and don't want to kill anything!

What they sell as live aragonite sand isnt exactly teaming with life as it has been sat on a shelf for months, you can use it in a brackish tank I did as it was the only aragonite available to me in a short timescale but I would suggest rinsing it thoroughly, I didnt and it played havoc with my water parameters.

If you plan to go full marine at some point your sand will become live anywaysas bacteria colonies form in it so dont worry about that.

So as your setting up from scratch, rinse that sand thoroughly put it in and then start cycling at your desired starting salinity or even fresh.

As for the water conditioner I wouldnt think 1.002 would need a double dosage I would think a lot higher than that like 1.010. That also sounds like a bit of a gimmick to get you to use it up quicker. I used Seachem prime at standard gallonage doses for fresh and brackish and never had any issues.

Be sure you cycle that tank 1st, in the same SG the puffers are in at the shop you are going to purchase them from (usually FW).

Thanks alot for your help guys