The Puffer Forum

I wouldn't worry about magnesium unless you were keeping a reef tank. That's not something that will effect your puffers health.

sevenyearnight wrote:I wouldn't worry about magnesium unless you were keeping a reef tank. That's not something that will effect your puffers health.

So what is your recommendations for other tests? I only have the four, and I would like to be fully prepared for this new tank set up. Also, I keep meaning to ask, but I keep forgetting, is that protein skimmer that you showed me, a HOB? Unless I want to plumb something and do extra work, I would need a HOB. But I wasn't positive, so I wanted to know what your plans were. =)

For a fish only with live rock all you really need is ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH, pH, GH, if you plan on adding coral then your going to want phostphates and calcium

Cool thanks. I will look into it.

Quick question all: My local Petco sells premixed saltwater for $.89 a gallon. So, I planned on (just to start) going and getting the water from them for a first time, since my options of RO/DI water are limited. Problem is (maybe it isn't) they use Echo salt (a Petco brand) to mix their water. Is it going to be a problem when I get instant ocean to keep up on my water changes and what not?

goldielocke76 wrote: Is it going to be a problem when I get instant ocean to keep up on my water changes and what not?

I'm not sure what you are asking here.

As far as that saltwater premixed, I don't have any way to verify the quality of their water, I've never really heard good or bad about it. But knowing that things are different Petco to Petco depending on the management, I guess it would depend on if you trust the store. I don't know anything about how the mix it, or what type of water treatment process they go through. I wouldn't trust it if my local Petco sold saltwater, but I'm paranoid about chain stores.

sevenyearnight wrote:

goldielocke76 wrote: Is it going to be a problem when I get instant ocean to keep up on my water changes and what not?

I'm not sure what you are asking here.

As far as that saltwater premixed, I don't have any way to verify the quality of their water, I've never really heard good or bad about it. But knowing that things are different Petco to Petco depending on the management, I guess it would depend on if you trust the store. I don't know anything about how the mix it, or what type of water treatment process they go through. I wouldn't trust it if my local Petco sold saltwater, but I'm paranoid about chain stores.

I just wasn't sure if it was ok to mix brands of salt. I am going to test their water before I go and bring a bunch of it home.

Mixing brands won't cause issues. But cheaper mixes aren't recommended for reef tanks, but should be fine for a FOWLR.
Maybe someone who has gotten salt water from Petco has their take to share.

So I found out that if I were to go to Petco and get their water, I would still get algae bloom. I can however, buy RO/DI water from the LFS. Someone advised me though, to go to a water shop. The only one around here though, only sells distilled water. The guy on the phone told me that distilled was almost the same as RO. I don't know anything about it (not in depth wise anyways) so I was wondering what you thought. I am going to shoot to get some water in it this weekend. If I can do that and get the salinity to where it should be, I am going to start looking for LR on CL.

Also, any ideas of what to look for when looking to buy LR from someone? Is there anything to watch out for? Let me know your tips and suggestions please, I have a guy that's willing to sell me a 100 lbs for $2 a pound. I am just waiting on pictures. I hope I can do it this weekend, it would be awesome!!!

Sorry, keep getting updates by the hour. Ordered my koralias today. Gotta make a run to WalMart to get more 5 gallon buckets (they are $3 there). Still unsure about the distilled water, so if anyone could let me know, that would be awesome. Looks like we will be super busy getting it all set up on Saturday! (I hope LOL).

Ok guys, the work for the new set up has begun. We went out tonight, got a level, 4 more 5 gallon buckets, some shims and some oxy clean to give the tank a once over (hoping to remove the algae in the seems of the tank). I called the LFS and the have RO water for sale, $3 for 5 gallons of it, which is almost 2 dollars cheaper than Petsmart. So tonight, all the nitty gritty work will commence-- I am going to clean the tank, set up the electrical, and level the tank.

Saturday, first thing to do will to go out to Petco, grab some Instant Ocean. Then we will head to the LFS on the way home, for our first trip of RO ($3 for 5 gallons) water (also to pick up substrate). After we fill up the tank (hoping this will only take two trips) I will be going to see a guy in North San Jose about LR. We will also make a stop at Petco beforehand to pick up several gallons of premixed SW, so I wont have to use my own. Transporting the LR is going to suck bad, I just hope I don't have to make several trips back and forth. We are going to put it in the 5 gallon buckets (we have 6) and hopefully make it in one trip. Korialias are coming in tomorrow, so I will get those up and running after we get the RO home and mixed. Then we will get home, put in the LR, finish filling up the tank, and then rinse the substrate, and add it to the tank. =) Then viola! Tank will be up and running, hopefully it won't be too too long before we can bring our future Yoshi home! =) I will take pics as we get thru it! =)

Please let me know any suggestions or comments or anything! Anything that will make this process easier, will be very welcome indeed!

Congrats on the new setup!! I know you've been eager to get everything you need. First things first, your RO/DI water, you can get it cheaper than what the LFS is selling it for. Out in front of most supermarkets are AquaFills, or RO/DIwater dispensers. I know that the local ones in my area (dana point) 5 gallons goes for for $1.75. I'm all about supporting the LFS's, but I'd rather help out a fellow puffer lover. About transporting the LR. It isn't as bad as you may think. Depending on how much you're picking up and what kind of vehicle will be used to carry the LR from place to place, Wal-Mart has great deals on 20-40 gallon plastic bins and trash cans. All 100lbs of my LR have been sitting in two 30 gallon tubs with only power-heads for circulation and it is all in good condition ready to use when needed. People have mixed feelings about rinsing substrate. Some say it does good, some say it is neither bad or good, but just pointless. Some also say rinsing does nothing but wash away a good amount of the substrate. People sometimes rinse just to get the settle time to shorten. After days of researching online, I made the decision not to rinse it. More or less I got lazy and found a reason not to rinse it. I mean rinsing 100 lbs of sand is not so much, hard work, but tedious and time consuming.

I hope everything goes as expected, good luck!

Pictures!

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... Rmtt2-A-LB <-- All set up and plugged in

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... znVbq-A-LB <-- Oooohhh moonlighting!!!

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... 7tpQt-A-LB <-- Some kind of lighting haha

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... vSfQr-A-LB <-- My idea of cable management LOL

Are you going to get a background? I highly recommend it, and I also recommend deciding before you fill the tank. Adding a background to a full tank can be, well, a pain in the rear.

puffpaddy wrote:Are you going to get a background? I highly recommend it, and I also recommend deciding before you fill the tank. Adding a background to a full tank can be, well, a pain in the rear.

Oh yeah, totally. We went out looking tonight, however, we want the sunken ship background, but we only saw a 18 x 36. I could prolly manage with an 18, but 36 is a foot short length wise = / I was going to check the LFS on Saturday morning. We are going to do it, we just have to find one that we both like. Denzil is letting me set the tank up, so I am going to let him choose the background LoL

He wants this one: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X ... =100&ty=84



But I am not sure if we can find it in the size that we need = /