Need some opinions

ercnan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2006
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The End Of The Yellow Brick Road
For starters :
29g fresh. Relocated fish to other tanks, 50% wc., gravel vac. filter clean, etc. 2 AC70's for filtration.
Added 1 cup instant ocean salt after all this. Coralife hydrometer does not register yet, obviously, but how much salt to add and how often to reach the levels required for a "baby" ruby scat, 2 bumblebee gobies, and figure 8 puffers. The fish are in the tank now, seem to be doing fine, and came from the LFS tank that registered ".10" per the employee.
Can I bring it up faster without harming the fish, do I need to ?
Will the fish be harmed by not bringing it up fast enough ?
Will I kill the bio., and have to re-cycle the tank ?
I've had fresh water for years, but this is my first foray into brackish/marine.
Any help about any aspect will be greatly appreciated.
The ultimate goal, would be a small full marine tank, but want to take it slow to learn how.
Sorry for the noob questions, bear with me.
 

HunterX

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2007
267
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Minnetonka, MN
I'm a FW guy, but I would add salt until you get the proper specific gravity your trying to achieve. I would think you would get it to the proper level at once and then monitor your parameters carefully while your stabilizing things. Some of your bio will die but not all and it should cycle rather quickly.
Interested in what people that keep these setups think.
 

ercnan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2006
790
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The End Of The Yellow Brick Road
Well, over the last few hours, I've increased the salinity to the level of 5 cups of instant ocean to 29g's.
I siphoned out a gallon at a time, mixed in a 1/2 cup of salt, stirred 'till dissolved, and poured back in.
My little cheap "deep six" hydrometer stills does not register.
I found a post for "ballpark" levels stating "1 cup per 5 g's" should put it at close to 1.010.
Do I need to keep adding, or is this hydrometer not accurate?
 

GOTFISH?

Feeder Fish
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Mar 26, 2007
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california
I have been told you need to bring the salinity up slowly about .02 a week so that the bacteria transitions from freshwater to brackish without going back into cycle...... F8 puffer is a lightly brackish fish you shouldn't go full marine with it....It takes quite abit of salt to change salinity....
 

ercnan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2006
790
0
0
The End Of The Yellow Brick Road
Thanks Gotfish?, and HunterX.
I'm not wanting to go full marine just yet, just trying to get "brackish"
About 1.005 - 1.010.
My Hydrometer's lowest scale is 1.012 on SG, or 16ppt.
With 5 cups of salt per 25-29g's I would think it should register, but no dice.
Debating on whether to add more salt until it registers, or try a different tester.
 

HunterX

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2007
267
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Minnetonka, MN
ercnan;895234;895234 said:
Thanks Gotfish?, and HunterX.
I'm not wanting to go full marine just yet, just trying to get "brackish"
About 1.005 - 1.010.
My Hydrometer's lowest scale is 1.012 on SG, or 16ppt.
With 5 cups of salt per 25-29g's I would think it should register, but no dice.
Debating on whether to add more salt until it registers, or try a different tester.
I never said to go full marine, I said add salt unit you get the salinity you want. I agree you should have seen the hydrometer move by now. Alot of lfs will test specific gravity for you , hopefully with a refractometer which is much more accurate.
 

ercnan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2006
790
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The End Of The Yellow Brick Road
I didn't mean to imply I thought you said go full marine, that was for GOTFISH?'s statement of not going full marine with a F8.
The LFS did test for me, and said their water was 1.010.
"came from the LFS tank that registered ".10" per the employee."
as stated earlier.
 

GOTFISH?

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 26, 2007
70
0
0
california
ercnan;895314; said:
I didn't mean to imply I thought you said go full marine, that was for GOTFISH?'s statement of not going full marine with a F8.
The LFS did test for me, and said their water was 1.010.
"came from the LFS tank that registered ".10" per the employee."
as stated earlier.
I don't understand the LFS water is 1.010? or your tank water is 1.010?
 

ercnan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2006
790
0
0
The End Of The Yellow Brick Road
GOTFISH?
The water from the brackish tank at the LFS was supposedly 1.010sg.
My 29 was completely fresh initially. I'm trying to get it to ~1.010sg, but after 7 cups of instant ocean, the hydrometer still does not move after testing.
Even though the lowest reading is 1.012, I would think half way between no reading at all, and 1.012, would be something above fresh and 1.012.
 
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