ZOMGGSP!

[PuffTheMagicFishy]

I just got a free 30-gallon tank, which means it's GSP TIME! I'm getting the tank set up at the moment and would appreciate advice and critiques. I'm going to wash, bleach, dry, and rinse the tank in the next couple of days, and have purchased a submersible heater and an AC 70 filter. A hygrometer (possibly a refractometer) is on my shopping list. This will be my first-ever SW setup, so if anyone has any good SW for Dummies level reference suggestions, I'd really appreciate it! I've done some preliminary research, but more knowledge is always better. Here are a couple questions:

1. I'm curious about substrate options. I've heard aragonite is good as a buffer, but I have very hard, high pH (7.8 ) tap water. Would aragonite make the water too hard and basic? Is pool filter sand or sealed aquarium gravel a better option

2. What kinds of decor will survive SW? I've heard bogwood will rot in brackish. Plastic plants would look a bit odd in SW. I'd love to try a cheap coral frag to see if the puff will ignore it or eat it. I remember hearing certain corals were less palatable than others--leathers and zoas? Or am I just making that up?

3. I'm also interested in sump construction if anyone knows of any how-to websites or publications, preferably written for the novice. I like the idea of growing macroalgae and live food in the sump as described in the Puffer Library.

4. Live rock: is it worth it? If I need to bring a baby puff slowly up to SW, can cured live rock just be added in to the setup? Or is it better to QT the rock first? I think it would be a great environmental enrichment and good for water quality, but I hear scary stories about hitchhiking mantis shrimp and so forth.

5. Do you need different water quality tests for SW than for FW?

I've kept FW and BW puffs, as well as one GSP in BW before I knew better. SW is like a whole different planet! Thanks for your time and help.

[apachepufferman]

Well first off you are goin to want to start your gsp off in BW. They only go full marine when they are adults. I've read that you want to wait till they are over 2" before you take them to full marine. I have my juviniles in .010 right now and they are doin good. I plan to keep them there until my 55g opens up which should be about 3 months or so. By then they (hopefully) will be larger.


With that being said you can wait on getting all the SW equip that you would need right away. Water quality test sets will tell you if they are for FW or SW or both. They usually just read a little different on the color scales if they are for both.

For substrate I have rock but mine do sit on the bottom sometimes so if you did get sand i'm sure they wouldn't mind and when you go to marine then you would have dead sand that you could turn into live sand pretty easily.

[PuffTheMagicFishy]

Thanks! I'm not particularly fond of sand substrate, since I like to give everything a good vacuuming, and with no MTS in SW 'd have to stir the stuff. Bleh. Is regular ol' aquarium gravel OK?

The LFS I usually go to has baby GSPs in FW and an adult or two in SW, so I could potentially start the tank as FW or SW. Depends which fish are healthier and friendlier.

[apachepufferman]

You should set your tank up with the salt level that you want and then aclimate the FW GSPs to that salinity. Then you don't have to worry about raising the salinity .002 each week and wonder if you are gonna mess up and destroy your cycle. GSPs are pretty hardy when it comes to salinity changes; escpecialy as babies. In the wild they live in deltas and estuaries where the salinity changes with the tide and rain storms. If the freshwater input is at flood level the salinity drops and if there is a storm coming from the ocean its going to rise with the surf. So IMO you should be able to put you GSPs in a brackish tank the same day they were in a FW tank. You just wanna start them in a FW QT and then slowly change the water out to BW over the next couple hours.
If you get the babies then you can start them in .004-.008. Thats hardly any salt at all so the change from FW to BW would be painless for them in one day.

I just use regular aquarium gravel in my brackish tank. Just rinse it out like you normaly would before putting it in the tank. If your water PH is not in the 7.8 range from the tap then you could consider a different substrate that would affect that.

[cobra1713]

the only thing i have to add is that if you are planning to go marine, that sand is basically required, second once it is sand you can then seed the sand with live sand and then all the tiny little inverts in the tank clean the sand and stuff if you have enough live rock in the tank so cleaning the sand isnt needed.

so IMO i would use sand now so you dont have to change it later. and yes some corals puffers will ignore, mine didnt bother a mushroom or monti cap i had in his tank, so there is hope of having corals, but not much hope on keeping a cleanup crew in the same tank so it is very hard to clean the tank if you have a bunch of corals.

but those are just my personal experiences with my GSP in marine, each puffer are dinfferent yours could love mushrooms who knows. but if oyu have a chance of buying one that is already acclimated to a marine salinity that would be cool just make sure you do another acclimation when you get it home to prevent any PH shock or salinity shock.

[bazil323]

1. Aragonite sand is a good buffer, and I do recommend it. That way even if for some reason your pH drops the aragonite will keep it stable. I don't think that it will make the pH go too high. It pretty much just brings it up and then stabilizes. You can get maring inverts that stay in the sand and clean it.

2. Artificial corals look really nice in marine setups, and they are way easier to clean (if you have a puffer which prevents a cleanup crew ). Otherwise, I'd recommend things like castles, ruins, divers, etc.

3. I have no idea. You might want to try http://www.howstuffworks.com.

4. Live rock is essential to SW set ups. You probably can wait to get it until you're closer to SW. I don't know the ins and outs of preparing your live rock, but everywhere I've looked you must have live rock. It's essential for clean water in SW.

5. Yep, you need a test kit that works for saltwater. Some work for both FW & SW. You just have to check the box.

Finally, I'd set up my tank as brackish, and acclimate the GSP over a few hours to that level. It's actually very easy. Put the GSP into a bucket, making sure there is enough water to cover him. Then you can fill the bag he came in with the tank water at brackish conditions. Rig up the bag so that it hangs over the bucket (I used a broken plate that mostly covered the bucket except for a 2" by 4" space). Poke a small hole in the bag with a pin so that it drips into the bucket.

I usually let the whole bag drip in the bucket, and then I take out some and add tank water a cup or so at a time. After only a few hours, he's ready to go into brackish! I used this with my F8's and my mollies, and none of them had any problem.

[PuffTheMagicFishy]

Cool! Thanks for all the responses. I'm kind of confused about when to acclimate to SW now, though. The pufferpedia says no SW until they're 4 inches, but some of you are saying they can be acclimated right away as babies. Has anyone successfully acclimated a baby GSP, and kept it to adulthood?

[SeeingGreen]

I have mine in sw at what appears to be 2 inches. They look healthier now than when they were in brackish. Also seem alot brighter and whiter since they got their substrate changes to sand.
I can't claim to know what happens to adulthood. Hope this helps, sorry I am not giving a better answer, but thats what I know.

[apachepufferman]

I have mine in sw at what appears to be 2 inches. They look healthier now than when they were in brackish. Also seem alot brighter and whiter since they got their substrate changes to sand.

I have read this in a few different threads and I have also noticed that the higher I took my sg the whiter and happier they seem. Mine are around the 1.5" range so I plan on full marine when they get over 2"