So Confused

[samyboy]

well i asked for a puffer the woman in the shop did the calculations for a 15gallon tank and sent me home with over a kg of tonic salt to dilute into 15gallons

following instructions on the side of the box i only need about 4 tea spoons at the most



i was told dilute the kg of salt into the water and bring a water sample back when i go to collect the puffer

 

[wendywc]

From Google calculator, i.e., when you search "18 litres to gallons convert"... you get 18 litres = 4.75509692 US gallons

So 3 teaspoons for 15 US gallons.

 

[samyboy]

OMG your avatar!!!!!!!!!!! legendary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and thanks just rembered tetra have a load of conversion calculators

 

[nmonks]

Don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but tonic salt is of no use. What you need is *marine salt mix*. Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, whatever is cheap and available in your area. But tonic salt won't do. The problem is tonic salt is repackaged cooking salt (nothing more, nothing less) and doesn't re-create brackish water. Besides sodium chloride, you also need the agents that harden the water and raise the pH, and these are missing from tonic salt but present in marine salt mix.

Measuring salt dosages with spoons is a rubbish way of doing things. Essentially what happens is once you open the package of salt, it slowly absorbs water from the air. This means that a teaspoon on day one would be 100% salt, but on day seven 98%, 2% water, and so on. Over time your teaspoon of salt becomes more and more moisture and less and less salt even though it *looks* the same. That's why you need to measure the specific gravity with a hydrometer. A cheap but effective floating glass hydrometer will cost you about £5 so buying one is a no-brainer.

Finally, there are brackish water puffers and then there are brackish water puffers. A figure-8 puffer will want about 10-25% seawater conditions, SG 1.003-1.005 to do well. A green spotted puffer will need at least 50% seawater, around SG 1.010 or more. If you download my Brack Calc program you can learn how the weight of salt, salinity, and specific gravity (SG) are all interconnected. Furthermore, while a figure-8 puffer could be kept in a 15 gallon tank without problems, though a 20 gallon tank would be better, a green spotted puffer needs at least a 30-40 gallon tank to do well.

Please please read up on brackish water fishes before spending any money. Although essentially hardy and easy to keep, there are some subtleties involved and you may as well learn about them first rather than after you have the fish at home.

Cheers, Neale

 

[wendywc]

Don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but tonic salt is of no use. What you need is *marine salt mix*.

Good catch; can't beleive I missed that.

 

[samyboy]

thanks so should i take the tonic salt back

dont know if there going to have marine salt thats the trouble as they dont have any marine fish all freshwater

is there no way i can use the tonic salt to get started and as you said would i be better off getting a figure 8 as they do have them in stock too

 

[nmonks]

Obtaining marine salt mix shouldn't be difficult. Even freshwater fish shops often have the stuff kicking about. They can certainly order some in. Or buy mail order and save a couple of quid by buying a largish amount that'll keep you going for months. Within a short period (say, a month or two) you could keep a brackish water puffer in either hard, alkaline freshwater or water with a couple of teaspoons of tonic salt per gallon. The tonic salt is totally and utterly unsuitable for long term care, but as first aid, it'll do.

In theory I suppose you could probably mix tonic salt with Malawi salt mix in a ratio of 3 to 1 and get something close enough to work, but why bother?

Figure-8s are the only brackish water puffer you should even contemplate in a 15 gallon tank. No way a green spotted puffer would work in there. They get too big, too quickly. On the other hand, you could have a veritable swarm of dwarf puffers in there, and they need freshwater, so no salt problems there!

Cheers, Neale

thanks so should i take the tonic salt back

dont know if there going to have marine salt thats the trouble as they dont have any marine fish all freshwater

is there no way i can use the tonic salt to get started and as you said would i be better off getting a figure 8 as they do have them in stock too

 

[samyboy]

thanks ever so much for your help

ive started filling the tank 2l at a time and mixing the tonic salt in another lfs store stocks marine fish so ill try there for marine salt ive also noticed an ebay stocklist is only a couple of miles up the road on an industrial unit on a farm when i contacted them before it was no bother to collect stuff so could try there for bulk too

just to further confuse everything, what about a topaz puffer they have them in too, and as much as id love a dwarf puffer ive only ever seen them in 1 fish shop which is about 40 miles away

 

[nmonks]

A "topaz puffer" could be anything really. Often this is a name applied to one of the green spotted puffers, Tetraodon fluviatilis, but it is also used for various species of Auriglobus and Chelonodon. Regardless, these are all medium-sized species that need a larger tank than 15 gallons.

Sometimes mail ordering fish, or making an expedition to buy a specific fish, makes more sense that buying the 'wrong' species from a local pet store. In a 15 gallon tank you don't want to be stuck with the wrong fish. Some of these medium sized puffers can live 10+ years. Dwarf species are altogether easier to look after and don't commit you to setting aside a huge aquarium to a single fish, as is often the case with the larger species.

Cheers, Neale

 

[samyboy]

well i have a GSP settling in nicely

next on the list is a 30g tank