November 26, 200520 yr comment_76872 Hey guys, me again!! I've finally gotten off my butt & bought some aquarium salts (Red Sea's Instant Ocean) & a few mollies to help start the cycling... Thing is, I got the mollies from a freshwater tank. I'm not sure how I should go about raising the salinity as I've never kept anything remotely marine before! What I'm planning on doing is having a puffer & 2 bumble-bee gobies in my AR-510, hopefully in Jan, so I've got plenty of time to get the tank cycled & salinity bought up to 1.020 (that's what the lady I'm buying the fish from has them at) which I was told today by Ben is actually near-enough to being full-blown marine levels! Help!! Report
November 26, 200520 yr comment_76873 So you want to start the cycle with the mollies in freshwater and then slowly build up the salinity? Report
November 26, 200520 yr comment_76880 Just take it up a point or 2 each day, ie 10 - 15 days to get up to 1.020. Mollies are pretty tough and can handle a bigger swing than that but there's also the logistics of actually getting the salt in. One way would be to drain the tank to about 1/2 full then top up over a couple of weeks until full with water mixed to about 1.030. Then just use salt mix for top up until salinity is right where you want it. Not sure but I thought bumblebees preferred a bit lower than 1.020? Report
November 26, 200520 yr Author comment_76882 How accurate will I need to be, as I've been loaned one of those floating thermometer-type things, which I was told was reading fairly accurately... I'll be splashing out one day and buying a refractometer, but until then... Report
November 26, 200520 yr comment_76885 A floating hydrometer will be fine. Would pay to calibrate it though by testing in some water of a known salinty if you can do that, just to ensure it is accurate. Mollies and puffers (I'm assuming brackish puffer) are pretty forgiving but if in doubt keep the salinity a tad lower, rather than higher. Report
December 11, 200520 yr Author comment_78760 Man, I've been slowly adding salt-water to the aquarium for a week or so now, and I've just realised I'm going to need about 1Kg of the stuff to raise to the correct level!! Does that sound about right? The Instant Ocean bag had a little diagram where 1Kg of salt to 30L of water for full sea-water, and the AR-510 I've got is about 69L, so I'd need about a Kg right?? *blink* I never realised how much salt there really is in the sea! Report
December 11, 200520 yr comment_78762 isnt instant ocean made by aquarium systems or something similar?? Report
December 11, 200520 yr Author comment_78766 The stuff I've got is made by Red Sea.. I don't know the exact name, 'cause I just cut out the little diagram on the side of the pack & threw the rest away! :oops: Does Red Sea do Instant Ocean? Report
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