Brackish water for a 10 gallon tank...?

Question

i have got some green spotted puffers, and i dont really know how to set up the tank for brackish water...they are living in fresh right now so how do i change it for them?

Answer 1

It takes approximately two cups of marine salt to convert fresh water to low range brackish (specific gravity 1.005). Since green spotted puffers do best in mid to high range brackish conditions, you'll want your specific gravity to be 1.010 to 1.015 (which is something like 4-6 cups of marine salt per 10 gal).

You'll NEED a device to measure salinity (such as hydometers and refractometers). Increasing salinity from fresh water to brackish should be done slowly over a span of a few weeks to acclimate your puffers. Increase no more than 0.002 specific gravity per week. To make it simple, add one cup of marine salt per week. 1 cup is approximately 16 tablespoons, so add 2 tablespoons of marine salt per day. Keep track of actual salinity with your refractometer.

You'll NEED to always have marine salt on hand to replace the water disgarded during water changes (so your salinity conditions won't vary substantially and shock your fish). "Aquarium salt" is not adequate.

You'll NEED 30gals of tank volume per green spotted puffer. These particular fish, despite their cute appearances, can be highly aggressive to their own kind, not to mention they get up to 6inches and are very active swimmers. If you keep multiple GSPs in a 10gal the strongest one will kill the others in time.

Answer 2

Slowly, very slowly. Brackish water is made by adding 1-2 teaspoons of aquarium salt per gallon to your tank.

If the fish are in fresh water now, you should add the salt very slowly. You will probably end up with 15 teaspoons of salt in the tank when you are done, so I suggest putting 2 or 3 teaspoons of salt per day until you have the required amount in the tank.

Brackish fish originate from areas in which freshwater meets saltwater. Fish that live in these areas are able to tolerate a wide range of salinities. Brackish fish do best in water with a salinity of 1.015, or one to two teaspoons of salt per gallon, and a pH of 7.5 or higher.

Also, remember that salt does not evaporate so only add salt when you physically take water out of the tank and replace it to do your weekly 25% water changes. Do not add salt when you just "top off" the tank to compensate for evaporation in between water changes.

Also remember, never change 100% of the water! You need the good bacteria that build up in the tank.

Answer 3

You can do some research and save links to the pages that give you the best help:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-18,GGLD:en&q=Green+Spotted+Puffer

http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=green+spotted+puffers&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAiL8b66ULwIEbhPVYCe6r0IazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAnEX8JnJqKfBXIuHEXRAHTcazKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=green+spotted+puffers

This is how I learned to take proper care of my Red Eared Sliders when I first got them. I learned a LOT!!!!!!!