moving GSP to marine

[zombiefetus]

My puffer has gotten bigger, he's now about 3.5-4" and I wanted to change his tank to full marine, since the s.g. is at about 1.019 right now anyway.

Would he be okay in a full marine tank right now since he's not full grown? Or should I just keep the s.g. how I have it now?
I have an AquaClear 70 filter right now which I plan on turning into a mini refugium (using these directions: http://www.coralforum.com/forums/showth ... adid=24042).

What sort of skimmer should I use? I asked my mom for one for Christmas, but apparently my fish are a waste of money and she refuses to get me one. :/ So since I'm currently jobless a cheaper one would be nice

[spoot]

i think he'd do ok in full marine at that size. how big is your tank?

[zombiefetus]

A 29gallon

[Pufferpunk]

You could go to http://www.reefcentral.com & look on their Used Equipment forum for a Backpac skimmer. You can get one for around $30-40 there. You'll also want to buy live rock. Check at that forum also, for a local reef club. You can usually buy rock cheap, from a local reefer & maybe even a used skimmer. The only reason you'd want to go full marine is to be able to use a skimmer & LR for filtration, to save on salt for WC. If you can't afford to invest in those things, I'd keep the SG as low as possible for your puffer's size, as you will continue having to do weekly 50% WC. Tell your mom how much she'll be saving on $alt if she got you a skimmmer. What kind of substrate are you using?

[zombiefetus]

I use sand, but I plan on doing a tear down and rebuild when I go full marine, so I think I'll be switching it. What would you suggest? I was thinking aragonite, or should I stick with sand?

Live rock shouldn't be a problem. I can get it 50% off (my mom works in a petstore and gets everything 50% off, she's just being lame about the skimmer for some reason). I also wanted to get some mushrooms to try in there. I'm prepared for the cost of everything, I've had money put aside for the project for a while now, it's just that all the skimmers I can find around here are about $180, and I was hoping for something a little bit cheaper.

Thanks for the link, I'll look into it.

[Pufferpunk]

A skimmer for that tank shouldn't cost $180! Just go for the Backpac, you won't be sorry. I have one on my 15g nano & another one on my 40g. If you have an extra HOB filter, you can add cheato in it & make a mini-fuge. You don't even need a special light for it-- the lights over your tank should suffice.

Stick with the sand. After adding the LR, it will become live sand.