Ok I'm Like So Confused!

[navy]

Hi, I hope someone can help me and I'm sure someone has asked this before, but I can't find the answer I'm looking for.

My tank 25L tank has cycled, I'm going to use this for a Quarantine tank. I want to start adding marine salt now to make it a Brackish tank. Now I know I can only raise the salinty .002 each week or it will kill my bacteria or stress the fish.

OK so I've mixed my salt up in a plastic bucket with water in there that is the same temp as in my tank and I've raised the salinity to .002 . I've let it sit overnight with a airstone and heater in it.

So when I put the water in the tank with the .002 salinity, will it be .002 salinity once the water is mixed with the rest of the tank water? That's what I don't get, does it matter how much water you have for the salinity to change?

Someone please help!!!! Thank You

 

[bobf]

The first question has to be why didn't you get the salt mix in before you cycled the tank in the first place?

To answer your question - the measurement of .002 is an expression of the salt content in the sample of water you tested - i.e. it represents the salt/water ratio in your bucket. Think of it as the ratio of salt in the bucket to that amount of water.

Add the contents of the bucket to the tank and the salt/water ratio will fall.

Assuming you have a 5 litre bucket and an empty 25 litre tank you would need to fill your bucket 5 times with water at .002 salinity to fill the whole tank with water at .002. If you have a full tank and take out 5 litres to replace it with water with salt added, introducing water mixed to .002 will only raise the salinity to .0004 overall (1 fifth of .002). To add 5 litres to raise the tank from 0 to .002 you would need to mix water in the bucket to .010 (5 times .002) so that after being diluted it ends up as .002 overall.

 

[Pheonix]

your water you have premixed will dilute in the water in your tank if that has no salt in it at all

how large is your tank? and how much water have you mixed up?

once we know that we can work out how much ull need to put it in to get your tank to the required level

 

[navy]

The first question has to be why didn't you get the salt mix in before you cycled the tank in the first place?

Because the LFS told me it was a fresh water fish, when I did my research at about 1/4 way through the cycle I realised it was a brackish fish. Then I read that you shouldn't add salt during the cycle or it will most likely kill the bacteria. So I waited and now both my tanks are ready to add salt. Yes I have 2 tanks that were cycling. One 290L one and one 25L one.

I understand what you are saying now. But before I make the jump with the big tank it would be great if you guys can confirm.

- OK so my 290L tank is ready to add salt.
- I do (just over) a 10% water change, say I take out 30L.
- I fill a bucket with 30L of water (with de chol. etc)
- I raise the salinity in the bucket with 30L of water to .002 x 9.6 = .019
- So once I dilute the 30L water (with the salnity of 0.19) with the exsisting tank, the water the salinity should equal .002 in the 290L tank.

Is this correct? I used a calculator to get exact figures, is it OK to round it off to .020? Or will just that slight extra amount of salt effect the bacteria?

Thanks for your help!

 

[dixaisy930]

Just out of curiousity, what kind of fish is it?

 

[SkiFletch]

And is the fish allready in the tank you're tweaking the salinity in?

 

[navy]

Just out of curiousity, what kind of fish is it?

I'm getting a Milk-Spotted Pufferfish and some Scats, and maybe some monos later on, both the puffer and the scats are babies, so I don't need the salinity too high at first, I will continue to raise it over time. Both the Milk spotted puffer and scats prefer high end brackish to marine when they are adults, so once I save enough and once they grow I will get a bigger tank which will be marine and transfer them into that...that's ONCE I save enough lol.

And is the fish allready in the tank you're tweaking the salinity in?

No, I only have "cycle" fish in the tank atm. I have 2 mollies, 1 barb and a mono (yes shouldn't have put him in there but he survived!). I'm not sure how barbs do with the salt though

 

[SkiFletch]

Most barbs and mollies can live just fine with or without salt, no worries there. I'd just proceed as planned and you should be just fine

 

[navy]

So my salt calculations are correct then?

 

[SkiFletch]

Not sure about your salinity calculations, I must admit I dont know about those . But I will say that raising the sg very slowly is the way you want to go

 

[navy]

No worries, thanks for the help anyways. I figured out in the end

 

[Lynden]

I'm pretty sure Barbs will kick the bucket in brackish water; the vast majority of Cyprinids are pure frehwater fish. You may want to rehome him.