Setting up a brackish tank

Please take it slow with the change! Quick changes in salinity will kill fish faster then being in the wrong salinity to begin with!

Slowly acclimate the fish to the ultimate salinity by adding only enough salt to SLOWLY adjust salinity/gravity each day.

When I moved from fish-only to coral, I had to go from my original 1.019SG (intentionally hyposalinic to slow down a parasite I once had to deal with) to 1.024SG (natural seawater is normally between 1.023 and 1.027, depending on where it's measured). I shifted by 0.001 a day which I've been told is the maximum you can adjust salinity without throwing some of the fish into osmotic shock.

 

Also, slowly directly add the salt. I would recommend gently/slowly pour the amount of salt at the intake of your filter (for your size tank i would try 1/4cup daily of salt OR LESS, measure each time you add to see how much your salinity shifts)

And regarding hydrometers, make sure you use a pencil/butter knife to knock tiny bubbles off of the sides of the gauge because they will "float" it higher, giving you a false reading.

As an aside-We've owned instant ocean & red sea hydrometers. Both red sea hydrometers returned the exact same result, which was wrong. the instant ocean (with much care to remove all bubbles from swingarm/gauge) returned identical results as our calibrated refractometer (which i bought out of frustration from our hydrometers giving different results)

 

You're suggesting adding salt directly to the tank ?

In saltwater, that's a no no. You always dissolve the salt into freshwater first.

 

i would consider it much safer to slowly add small amounts of salt directly to tank to slowly adjust salinity, as opposed to mixing salt+freshwater and abruptly change salinity by doing a water change with it.

i completely agree and your absolutely right for a water change on a pre-existing saltwater tank (that your not adjusting salinity) though... should never add substantial amounts of freshwater, and then saltwater directly to a tank to do a water change since that would cause a sudden salinity drop (and for that matter all chemical drop), and then further stress the fish by a sudden hike afterwards.

whatever the method, slow change is the key. sudden changes in and of themselves are more harmful then chemistry being incorrect (quick temperature changes, salinity changes, ph changes, etc will all do much more damage then slowly adjusting until it gets to ideal)

 

I would say so!

 

Slowly adjusting the salinity can be done by mixing a cup of salt/water and adding it to the tank. Adding salt directly to a tank will not dissolve immediately and will not give you an accurate reading on how slowly you're adjusting the salinity.

 

Very true on inaccurate reading within an hour of adding (hense adding 1/4 cup or less)... but mixing in advance and slowly adding cup of saltwater at time would definitely work too (although the salt's dissolved, it would still be wise to slowly add and not trust readings for an hour or two so the added water mixes)

and adding 3 cups before adding to tank?!?!! WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA yeah I bet they did huff!!! whew glad to hear they're still around