Rate my GSP's care

[Aquarist]

Hey guys. I am bored and thought I should share my GSP and you guys here can rate his care!

Tank size: 60 gallons
Substrate: Using 1 lb/live sand per gallon
Puffers size: Currently two inches. Hes growing over a little more then half an inch per month
Filtration: 70g aquaclear
Salt circulation: 1x airstone
Live Rock: 4 lbs
Heater: aquaclear 300W
Hiding Places: Caves, plants, etc. Plenty of them
Tank Temperature: Stable a hair above 80.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5
Water changes: Once every two weeks(Once hes an adult he will get weekly)
Diet: Live snails, bloodworms frozen and freeze dried, frozen krill, brine shrimp frozen and freeze dried. Theres his diet for now until hes larger
Tankmates: None. Once hes in full marine maybe a yellow headed jawfish?
Aggression: Very aggressive. Bites your fingers and hands. Little guy even chased a laser pointer across the sand!
Salinity right now: 1.012

Thanks guys. What else can I improve for this tank? Looking good to me so far.

[Brandon8521]

Sounds good to me. Are you saoking the freezdried foods? I prefer to shy away from anything freezdried since frozen is easier to deal with and no chance of bubbles building up in his stomach.

[Aquarist]

Sounds good to me. Are you saoking the freezdried foods? I prefer to shy away from anything freezdried since frozen is easier to deal with and no chance of bubbles building up in his stomach.

Ill be sticking to frozen then:)

[Brandon8521]

One other tip is the higher in salt gravity you get the more salt creep your going to get from that airstone. I found it not even worth it after a while and got rid of it. To much of a mess to deal with.

[Aquarist]

One other tip is the higher in salt gravity you get the more salt creep your going to get from that airstone. I found it not even worth it after a while and got rid of it. To much of a mess to deal with.

Yeah. I do add some freshwater*no salt at all* once and a while everytime it evaps so the salinity doesnt go up TO high. on a 1-10 What would you say how good of care he is in? Anything else I need to be doing?

[Brandon8521]

I would say a 10. It seems as if your doing everything right so far. A very large tank for a single GSP which is probably why he is growing so quickly aswell. Pictures are allways a plus.

[Aquarist]

Thanks. He seems really happy but he has one issue. His head is very light green and colorful. His whole back is dark. He was like this @ my LFS too. When I put him in the bag to go home he turned all green. then when he got in the tank he turned colors again. Pictures maybe tomorrow if I can find my camera I didnt know half an inch per month is quick for a GSP. I just assumed thats a normal growth rate. I want this guy to be a huge puffer just in case he gets the whole 60g to himself . Any other advice for boosting his growth and happiness?

[Pufferpunk]

How deep is the sand bed? What's the SG? How is it you have LR, if it's not SW?

[Aquarist]

How deep is the sand bed? What's the SG? How is it you have LR, if it's not SW?

Salinity: 1.012
I dont know how deep the sand bed is to be perfectly honest. never measured it
Live rock lives fine as well as live sand does in brackish. Still makes houses for bacteria

[Pufferpunk]

Not true. Expect serious die off/ammonia spike with more rock at that SG. How is the sand "live"? Just look at the bed & estimate. Shouldn't be deeper then 1".

[Aquarist]

Not true. Expect serious die off/ammonia spike with more rock at that SG. How is the sand "live"? Just look at the bed & estimate. Shouldn't be deeper then 1".

About an inch for the sand bed. Inch and a half tops. I bought the sand as live. Its only 4 lbs of LR. How am I going to get an ammonia spike?

[Aquarist]

Not true. Expect serious die off/ammonia spike with more rock at that SG. How is the sand "live"? Just look at the bed & estimate. Shouldn't be deeper then 1".

The LR has red algae growing on the inside of it, so it seems to be thriving at this salinity

[Pufferpunk]

You bought the sand from another person's established tank?

[Aquarist]

You bought the sand from another person's established tank?

Bought bags of it @ my lfs.. Not from another persons established tank o.O

[Pufferpunk]

Nothing live about bagged sand.