The Puffer Forum

So I got two puffers from walmart (nobody else sells them around here) and they are in freshwater 7.0 pH. I intend to transfer them into a 20L with crushed coral which as you know will buffer water to 8, which is what these guys prefer. Right now I have them in 7 that is heavily phosphate buffered (neutral regulator) due to my extremely low pH well water.

What is the recommended way to get them from 7 to 8?

The highest pH one can achieve with a phosphate buffer is around 7.6, such as with alkaline regulator, which I plan to start adding gradually, but is it even possible to temporarily drop the pH of the crushed coral tank with a carbonate such as acid buffer so they don't have to get shocked by going from 7.6 to 8?

I have been told that the nature of phosphates make them much more stable than carbonates so simply adding alkaline carbonate to the phosphate tank is not likely going to work. I have tried using carbonate buffers acid/alkaline buffer in my other tanks in the past and the pH was not very stable, whereas with NR it stays pretty much exactly wherever it lands.

Please advise,

Thanks in advance!

It would help to know what species of puffer, sometimes they can tolerate a pH slightly different from what is recommended. The only thing that I would suggest doing aside from adding crushed coral is to add more oxygen, as that will push out CO2, thus lowering kH.

One GSP and one F8.

The last two healthy specimens after the idiots dept manager at WM threw them in with aggressive cichlids. They were constantly defending the corner of small tank against attacks. I finally got the guy to put the last F8 who wasn't doing so well into another tank where he could get some rest. They didn't even know that GSPs and F8s are different species, and only had one label and SKU number. Anyway I took two of them home and they developed ich in QT which seems to have since been treated with higher temps and a little marine salt.

Eventually (sooner than later) these 2 species will need to be separated.