First time marine tank for a Porc

[TheShield]

Hi,

Been a while since touched last aquarium due job moving to UK. After 9 months I decided I have to start again with puffers, this time a Holocanthus. However I never had any marine setup before so it will be a challenge, which is fine to me.

I got a Juwel Rio 240 from ebay, used with freshwater species before, has an internal filter which I'll remove, 2 x T8 36W light and a 150W heater. 240L or about 52 gal is under the recommended tank size, I acknowledge that. In next months I will buy a 800L or 175 gal and use the existing one for something else, maybe trying a reef. I am thinking to use this 240L as a dispplay aquarium and have a 100L or 22 gal sump/refugium (maybe even more, depends on what I will find on ebay these weeks) where to put all the equipment and also house some creatures that can't live with puffer alone, think some inverts or corals.

I know very well from my previous non marine puffers such as GSP that when they eat they produce lots of waste. Since my aquarium is underized for a Porc I am planing to compensate with a good oversized skimmer and lots of live rock, please come with some ideas about brand/model for skimmer and LR quantity (I was thinking to buy 2 x Aqua Medic Turboflotor Blue 1000 and 20Kg of LR for start then raise to 40 - 50Kg but definetely open to suggestions).

I think the first stage after cleaning the tank is to get about 200L of RO prepared salt water from local store until I have my RO unit fit along with 2 powerheads. Put the water in place, turn the heater and the powerheads and wait until temp reaches 25 C or 77F. Then go and buy 20Kg or 44 lbs of cured LR for initial stage? Or should I go with uncured LR? Or a mix, or use base rock and LR? Here I am a bit lost, many choices. Also I am reading forums but still don't know for sure if skimmer must run from the first day or later, please advise.

I have bought and read many of the great books about marine aquarium but I'd like to get advices from people like you who successfully keep marine puffers, to guide me thru the initial stages.

Thanks.

Cornel

[Pufferpunk]

Nice to see you back again!

Depends on how patient you are. You can certainly start off with uncured or base & uncured, it'll just tank some time before you can add anything live in there. A skimmer from day one is always helpful.