Need some acclimation advice

Hey guys, I just set up a 20 gal brackish tank. I plan on putting a figure eight puffer in there for now. I am not sure how the LFS keeps them, but I am assuming they keep them in freshwater.

I did a little research online and it said to start off with a SG of 1.002 for the first week or so. This tank is brand new and not cycled (I planned on just taking the filter media out of my main freshwater tank and putting it into the filter in the BW tank. Will that be ok? I read that the bacteria also need to adjust to BW so that another reason to start at 1.002.

Also, will my API Freshwater test kit work in BW? I am going to assume no, which stinks cause the test kits are expensive. Also also what do you guys think as far as tank mates go? The SG will eventually be 1.005 but will that be too high to acclimate fish as tankmates at a later date?

Ok so, lets highlight my questions here.

1.) Acclimation SG of 1.002, is this correct?
2.) In BOLD, is that an OK procedure?
3.) Will an API FW Test Kit work in such a small SG ?
4.) What tankmates do you think I should go with, and is 1.005 SG too much to just add them in at a later date.

Sorry I am a new to BW and I have been excited, and at the same time a little nervous about getting my feet wet so to speak.

Thank you for any advice!!!!

-FishApprentice

Ok so my tank is at 1.002 right now, should I take some water out then? Or will 1.002 be tolerable?

If I need to remove water, how much do you think would be removed to drop it by .001 ?

Sorry, like I said, I'm a noobie when it comes to adding/subtracting salt.

thanks for the help, my hydrometer is not so accurate. It reads 1.000 - 1.004, nothing in between, but it read halfway between them, so I figured that's 1.002, reading 1.001 should be fun

Oh and BTW sploke, awesome BW article, didn't read it before posting... shame on me.

Even from changing a fish from 1.000 - 1.001 the acclimation process will take up to an hour? It's no problem, I'm just curious about it. Would it be ok to float him in the tank (in the bag or contain that he came in) and just use a water test tube to add 5ml of water from the tank into the bag every maybe 10 min or so? Would that be too much or too little? Thats what I do to acclimate fish from the LFS to my Freshwater aquarium, but going from FW to BW might take a bit more time.

Great, Thanks a lot Sploke, you too Krytan, thanks for all the help!