question

[jessinator752]

does anyone know if you can put live sand and rock in a brackish water tank? i have a 55 gal tank set up and finally got it stable so my little puffer friends don't die. but now i'm considering taking the gravel out and putting sand down. i'm not sure if i can do that while my little friends are still in the tank, or if live sand and rock will even survive in a brackish water set up. the salinity is at 1.006. if anyone has any idea please let me know. thanks, jessica

[Ross]

nope, .006 is too low for inverts.

[aggie4231]

.006 is too low for reef stuff. shot than is too low for most of your typical brackish fish. i think .006 is like 5 ppt. most brackish water is usually 10-15 ppt

[jessinator752]

the gal at the pet store told me to add 1 tablespoon of salt per 10 gal of water and to keep the salinity right at 1.006-1.010 for the spotted green puffers or figure 8 puffers. so that's what i did and they seem to be doing fine.

[erikharrison]

I heard that you can take a freshwater mollie and slowly convert it to be a saltwater mollie, I wonder if you could do the same with a brackish puffer.

[jessinator752]

yes you can. most puffers live in brackish water as babies, but as adults they live in saltwater. from what i've read online and what the gal from the pet store told me you can convert them as long as it is done slowly. since brackish water changes salinity you can add 1-2 tablespoons every day or every other day and it won't hurt them.