want to start a puffer species tank.

[Anonymous]

oh yes ill take you advice to heart and do whats best. but when i read what you had wrote and looked at what my lfs said i could do i was like two totally different pieces of advice, which is right. they told me i could have the two puffers and lionfish in one tank with no prob.

Remember I have no ulterior motives, I'm not trying to sell you fish, I'm not paid by this BBS to reply to your posts, I'm looking out for the welfare of the animals. If I can save the lives of some critters each time I reply to someones queries I feel I've done my little part in the grand scheme of life.

ok now since i want live rock and live sand in my tank ill need more than no lighting. i was thinking compact, how many watts do you suggest. i want to have enough but no too much. i am on a budget. lol.

As stated above PC lighting would be fine for your tank.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Shinken]

I really think the livesand is a good idea as you cant keep snails etc with puffers. i think they are a good idea with out puffers too but there are other ways you can go. check out reefcentral in the speciialist forum and go to Dr ron shimeks forum, there you will find the information on how to set one up properly!

 

[JustReefIt14]

well shinken i went to the reefcentral website. but to view that forum you told me about i had to register and all of that. when i went into the forum i didnt see any posts that had been made. why is this. the site looks like it has alot of stuff to offer but it can really get confusing. i really love reefs.org soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more. lol. id like to get it right and see what you meant for me to see.

 

[JustReefIt14]

are you going to tell me?

 

[JustReefIt14]

called around and made a few decisions(petsmart,petsupermarket,walmart, and lfs). i finally found a skimmer that i could afford, its a vizi jet and is 46.99 at petsupermarket. ill be getting a mechanical filter from petsmart one for a 50 gallon. for substrate my lfs said that i could use crushed coral( a 40 pound bag). this seems to be it for supplies besides the other mandatory stuff, test kits salt etc. im stuck on lr and ls because itll cost almost 600 dollar to have enough for the tank from my lfs. i thought about adding some bit by bit, would this be ok? i now think that cycling the tank will be difficult if i dont use lr or ls. dose anyone have advice on this? i was thinking about a pair of damsels and keep them after the cycle since i planned on getting a pair anyway. if anyone thinks that i have all of what i need in mind and am doing this right i would love your advice on anything that i said above. i really need to know all of what you all have to offer. always in advance thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Forget the crushed coral purchase a 40# bag of sugar size oolitic sand.
You only need about 50# of live rock so even at your overpriced LFS that's like $350.00 and you can do much better mail order. Forget using Damsels to cycle your tank, if you can't afford to purchase all the live rock at once just purchase some, you don't need much to cycle a tank. You can also cycle your tank with the just the sand and a piece of raw shrimp enclosed in a piece of nylon stocking . Bury the shrimp in the sand and after about 3 to 4 weeks just remove the shrimp.
Don't rush into this, do it right the first time and you'll be much better off.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

thanks again david, i was waiting for your reply. oolitic sand is this stuff expensive?if it isnt i think ill cycle the tank like that and add at least 3 pounds of rock with the shrimp. also do you sthink that the stuff i said i planed on doing is ok?

 

[JustReefIt14]

im really trying to decide on what to do for livestock with this tank. i know i want puffers two to be exact but finding a mated pair will be hard. for now lets say that i only want one. could two maroon clowns and a school of chromis and a red spotted blenny work for this tank? what would you suggest as a combonation of fish for this tank? and are you sure about the lionfish?

 

[Anonymous]

thanks again david, i was waiting for your reply. oolitic sand is this stuff expensive?if it isnt i think ill cycle the tank like that and add at least 3 pounds of rock with the shrimp. also do you sthink that the stuff i said i planed on doing is ok?

The sand shouldn't be expensive though who knows what your LFS will charge. Seriously consider mail order for your sand and live rock. You should be able to get 50# of live rock mail order for about $100.00 if you hunt around. If you only put in a little rock now unless you buy cured rock later ( more expensive ) you'll go through another cycle unless you cure the rock separately in another container.
Let's get your tank up and running first before we start to change the stocking arrangement.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

im really trying to decide on what to do for livestock with this tank. i know i want puffers two to be exact but finding a mated pair will be hard. for now lets say that i only want one. could two maroon clowns and a school of chromis and a red spotted blenny work for this tank? what would you suggest as a combonation of fish for this tank? and are you sure about the lionfish?

Refer to my last post and forget the Lion Fish.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

david, with that said could you possibly help me comprehend what has been established as the plan for this tank. thanks

 

[Anonymous]

david, with that said could you possibly help me comprehend what has been established as the plan for this tank. thanks

I keep advising you to not keep more than 5 or 6 fish in that size tank but you keep wanting to add more. You can't take one away but add three more.
Look back over this thread. Two puffers, two maroon clowns, a blenny and a hawkfish. Now one puffer, two maroon clowns, a blenny and a school of chromis. Let's try to get 5 or 6 fish not 7 or 8.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

plan one: 1 puffer, 4 chromis
plan two: 2 puffers, 2 maroon clowns, 1 redspotted blenny

called lfs and said i could at least have 6 good sized fish in the 55 gallon tank.

plan three: 2 puffers, 1maroon clown, 3 chromis

all the while this plan may change. i know what youre going to say but i think that i will go and take a risk with at least 6 fish. people do it all the time. with the three plans suggested which fish would i put in first?

 

[JustReefIt14]

does anyone think that i could setup a really nice 55 gallon fowlr tank with 5-600 dollars. this would be for some liverock,a few watts of pc lighting and a hob skimmer.