New here, from WI. Sick GSP.

[LongGrain]

alright, forgive my ignorance. But do I not need a filter with a salt water tank w/ skimmer? I keep reading different things such as "biological filtration is not necessary for reef tanks with protein skimmers" etc. and I don't really fully understand it.

I'm not really looking to grow a full blown reef. I don't have the experience just yet. Just need a good habitat for my puffer, seeing as he's my only fish right now, and I'm struggling to keep him alive by himself. Plus my lighting is not nearly sufficient for coral, and I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to blow hundreds on lighting for coral.

Right now In the tank I have a 200w heater, penguin biowheel 200 filter, marineland dual LED light fixture (white daytime lighting, blue night time lighting, 40lbs of sand (half live sand for what its worth), 7.5lb of instant ocean and treated water. I have been putting in the recommended dose of cycle (for what its worth as well) for the past 2 days that the tank has been full and filtering.

When I square away the SG and put live rock in the tank to decorate/cycle, will this be a suitable home for my GSP for the time being while I acquire powerheads, a protein skimmer, etc? Anything has to be better than the 6 gallon tank he is in now...

[trekenk]

You have to make sure the live rock is cured. Even if it is cured you must transport in wet newspaper (and you still will get some die off). Live rock is very pricey from you LFS, I don't know what it sells for in your area but can go for up to $6.00 a lb around here, that is close to 400.00 in live rock you need $$$$$ . Your best bet might be to look on craigslist or reef clubs for your area to see if anyone is selling it from an establish healthy tank, you might luck out and get it as low as $2-$3 a lb. You don't need a mechanical filter with salt water but you do need as mentioned before a good protein skimmer , flow and the 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of live rock pre gallon (more is even better). Glad he is still hanging in there.

[trekenk]

double post.....

[Pufferpunk]

I love my Backpac for smaller tanks.

[wagner7123]

the live rock will serve the purpose of bio filtration. The skimmer removes some of the waste in the water before it can begin to rot/breakdown. The bio wheel you have will mechanically trap food and poop but will quickly get clogged causing an increase in waste products. in a fresh water tank you can just change out 80% of the water or what ever you like pretty much for free. In a salt tank you have to mix salt (aka money) into your water so you want to make the tank stable requiring less water changes. I started the same way you did about 6 months ago. I switched to full marine right away. i used the freshwater filter that came with the tank until i could buy a skimmer ( i bought a cheapie and had to buy another one next pay check). Then I removed the freshwater skimmer, next I bought a power head to create flow in the tank which keeps the waste from settling on the sand and in the rocks. The power heads make your skimmer work by keeping solid waste floating in the water.

the 750gph pumps you mentioned are probably too expensive for your needs and may be too much flow for your fish at the moment.

[Pufferpunk]

The Koralia Evolution is probably a better size for your tank. Look on
Amazon, I find the best prices there for my aquarium equipment.

[LongGrain]

So I absolutely need all of that stuff BEFORE putting my fish in this tank? I'm working on getting everything, but I'm worried about him staying in the tank he's in now.

I think i'm starting to grasp what everything does in a marine tank. Right now I'm just trying to get my fish healthier and in a larger environment as soon as possible to help him recover. I'm in college, so I don't have hundreds to throw down this second on everything at once, but getting some live rock, and then acquiring power heads and a skimmer should not be difficult over the next paycheck or two. ya know?

[wagner7123]

I did it piece by piece too. Check craigs list for deals, I got about 75 lbs of live rock, a skimmer with a power head, a 45 gallon tank, and 50 lbs of sand for $20. just look for the deals.

[LongGrain]

I just emailed someone on craigslist about some really neat looking live rock, still searching other listings for other parts.

will it be ok/beneficial to move my fish into the larger tank sooner rather than later? he's still getting stuck to the filter several times a day (only when the lights are off though, oddly) and his fins are looking rather ragged. I'm really conflicted as to what I should do. Last night you were suggesting putting him into the bigger tank immediately, but now everyone is saying to buy all this stuff first. I know what I need to do about setting up a marine tank, but I don't know what to do for my little guy "in the here and now".. If you know what I mean.

[bertie 83]

Put a breeding net over your filter intake temporarily, it will stop him getting stuck

[LongGrain]

here are a few videos I uploaded of my guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGVPRw5G ... VQrPPh7A2V

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr480GcS ... VQrPPh7A2V

The snail I gave him was just a little bigger than he is used to breaking, so he was being a spoiled brat and wanted me to do it for him. After the vid I took it out, cracked it between my fingers and he gobbled it up in about 2 seconds flat. But you can see his fins and skin are all messed up :/ poor guy.

edit: can't get embedding to work. just click the links I guess.

[trekenk]

Great that he is still interested for food but you got to get on that ich he is covered in it.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28113

If the bigger tank is not going to be ready for him anytime within the next day or two go with the link above. What is your sg in the smaller tank?

[LongGrain]

last time I checked it was at 1.010 and that was on saturday.

I've read that ich treatment thread a lot, the only thing is that I have no way to bring the water up to that temp. The heater I have in that tank only heats the water to 78 and doesn't have an adjustment, which is why I've been contemplating melafix. He started getting really bad because I originally didn't have a heater in the tank (stupid) and the nitrite started to spike up. I did daily 50% water changes and upped the salt content from 1.002 to 1.010 over a 3 or 4 day span, that killed my nitrite spike, but he still has ich and I'm not sure what I can do about it with the things I have at my disposal.

I want to have the SG squared and have live rock in the large tank tomorrow, in which case I would like to acclimatize and transfer him over right away. It just depends on whether I can get my hands on enough LR for the right price or not.

[trekenk]

Upping the sg that quickly probley crashed your cycled tank also. Sounds like a good plan but make sure to drip accumulate him slowly. As JP pointed out in his weakened state (although from the video his state doesn't look to bad) you don't want to shock him to much. I think this is the only way to go. Good luck with the live rock that stuff can add up unless you luck out with a good price. From looking at him Melafix might not be a bad idea too, might give him a bit of comfort.

[LongGrain]

Just heard back from a guy with some good live rock. He has a 65lb chunk that is 16x10x18 which will fill out my tank nicely I think.

From what he's explaining, it sounds like its this arch here.



hopefully he doesn't want a fortune for it, its the smallest piece he has in his 265g tank.

I'm off to the lfs right now to check my water in both my tanks and talk to him about live rock and some other things as well. wish me luck.