The Puffer Forum

FADE2BLACK_1973 wrote:Hey cool deal. But do you have any lfs that carries LR?

Yeah they do but most are $6-$10 per pound. (guess its because I live in the middle of the country with no nearby oceans)

As for my upgrade I have visited the lady who is selling a 75G saltwater aquarium for $300 I may decide to take it this weekend after I get paid. I worked some double shifts at the airport so I can get the extra cash to do this. http://tulsa.craigslist.org/for/2923663228.html

My plan is to just break down the 55G and transfer the live rock and water to instantly cycle it and go ahead and get some crushed coral and sand for a substrate and leave the gravel as it is in the 55G to upgrade my 20G tropical community aquarium with it.

Those lights alone sell for $350!

That is the way it is around where I live also. No near by ocean and LR is high. But I still rather by it local then order because of the shipping cost. You would still be payin nearing the same, imo. Oh and I would buy acouple of bags of live sand and a bag of dry sand unless your gravel is already seeded then mixing crushed coral would be ok. Just besure to rinse the crap out of it 1st. It is extremely dusty.

And the 75 gal. tank, stand, PC lighting, and glass lids for $300.00 dont sound like a bad deal.

Yeah I am leaving the gravel in that 55G and converting it back to FW. Once I get that 75G I am gonna buy a couple bags of pool filter sand and crushed coral and then seed it with 10-20 lbs of live sand. Then I will add my Live Rock.

If I was you, I would leave the crushed coral out all together if you was going with sand. Also adding a good size bag of dry aragonite sand 1st and then the live sand. And live out the rest. Oh and adding plenty of LR will get it started. Some dry base rock on the bottom of the LR. And really want to boost the cycle with out fish. Add a piece of uncured live rock from a lfs (just besure to tell them why you need a couple of pieces of nasty uncured LR) and it will spike your ammonia up and get everything up and running. Protein is a must doing this time and you will need to be empting the collection cup more often during this time. This is how I done it over the years. Different people does things differently but this is my way. I has worked out for me perfectly.

Oh yeah here is a recent pic taken today of my 55G setup. Note the dry & live rock in there. I suspect it is about 30-40 lbs worth. And the clear water! It is hard to tell from the lighting and micro bubbles but it has cleared up considerably!

You have some really awesome shaped pieces.

Indeed I do! It will look so much prettier when the stuff fully matures into cured live rock! I hope I get that florescent red, purple, and green colors that I have seen in some SW aquariums!

Good lighting and flow, and the sand helps this from what I have seen.

Them are some pretty plants you have in there...lol

An update! Note that I know bubble stones are not desirable in a saltwater setup but my puffers seem to enjoy their tank more by taking turns "surfing" the bubble stream. I placed the bubblers in front of a powerhead to disperse the bubble field which the puffers seem to love even more. It also seemed to help with reducing salt creep. Towards the end is the puffer I had adopted from this thread: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=30787