The Puffer Forum

I used arognite in my tank, dry not live. I can't remember exactly what the grain size was called that I got but its pretty fine. Guess the grain size would come into play if you wanted to keep anything that would bury in the sand, like my wrasse does to sleep. I also believe the arognite is helpful with PH.

I believe pool filter sand is relatively cheap if you could get your hands on some and looks better than the play sand IMO. I avoided the play sand after seeing the color, just knew I wouldn't be happy with the way it looks.

If you're looking for some cheaper hardier fish clownfish aren't expensive, for the standard Ocellaris, and they are pretty peaceful when it comes to clownfish. Chromis are another, the green I believe isn't expensive, and they can be kept in some sort of group but I can't remember the specifics there (odd/even numbers or that sort of thing). I believe there are some cardinals that aren't too expensive that will school also so you'd be able to have a few. Those I listed will do well in a community style tank. The only ones mentioned I have experience with are the clowns though, I have read some about the other just not as much as if I were adding them to my tank. I can't think of any other cheaper fish at the moment that would do well together....

I'd find one particular fish that you know you want, even if it is to be added down the road, and be able to plan your stocking that way, adding the more peaceful and hardier fish first until your comfortable.

I can't even remember now what size tank this is to suggest much of anything else. I know there had been a couple fish I had looked into that would do well in groups but they were more expensive and harder to keep, reasons I've shied away from them.

I also really like the different gobys and blennys, I have one blenny. Most of them aren't very expensive.

Oh, love my toby puffer too of course!

This tank is a 5 foot bow front, close to 3 foot deep top to bottom and just over 2 foot front to back in the centre. It's a fair size. Now for future stocking who knows as this is a warm up tank, just want to find my feet and I feel a tank this size should be easy to keep stable. Arognite round here costs a small fortune so I will have to search for some online deals. Marine fish also seem steep so I have more searching as far as they go, will have a list up soon. Elec blue hermits are on the cards as are the spider looking crabs with the pointy heads ( so my wife tells me , I have not seen these critters which sound petrifying). Fish wise I believe I will be housing nemo lol, but more or less just looking for small fish that stay small ish. Gonna build up on this one and not jump In too deep too soon

Also I hear a lot about pool filter sand but do not seem to be able to find it here. Phoned up a swimming pool company and confused them so I have little hope of finding it. Stuff is so expensive where I am too so when you do find it its rediculously priced and I hate using the Internet unless I have to to purchase stuff, would much rather pay money and get handed goods lol.

bertie 83 wrote:This tank is a 5 foot bow front, close to 3 foot deep top to bottom and just over 2 foot front to back in the centre. It's a fair size. Now for future stocking who knows as this is a warm up tank, just want to find my feet and I feel a tank this size should be easy to keep stable. Arognite round here costs a small fortune so I will have to search for some online deals. Marine fish also seem steep so I have more searching as far as they go, will have a list up soon. Elec blue hermits are on the cards as are the spider looking crabs with the pointy heads ( so my wife tells me , I have not seen these critters which sound petrifying). Fish wise I believe I will be housing nemo lol, but more or less just looking for small fish that stay small ish. Gonna build up on this one and not jump In too deep too soon

Oh, okay. I think I paid around $20 for a 20lbs bag here for the arognite, not cheap but not terribly expensive.

Guess thats how I was going into the 60g (getting used to saltwater and keeping tanks in general actually) , that and to get a puffer. Now I have the 90g I'll be moving things over to so I've been looking into additional stocking options.

Honestly though I think saltwater comes across as harder than it really is though. Once I really began its been relatively easy to get the hang of, until you get into some very elaborate setups/stocking.

Marine fish are expensive as are corals. Most of my fish have been around $25 or so, which I think is a lot with just getting into this hobby. They get much more expensive though. Right now theres a fish I'm wanting thats going to run me about $70.

I believe you're talking about this hermit ? http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... catid=1479

I love the looks of those but stayed away because of their higher price and larger size. Might want to look into the blue leg, they stay smaller and are cheaper. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... catid=1346 I have (or had?) a couple of these, I'm not sure how many are still around after adding the puffer honestly. I do still have peppermint shrimp alive so guess theres a chance the hermits are as well.

The other crab sound like the arrow crab, I don't know much about them since they aren't something thats caught my interest. I am terrified of spiders and don't believe I could have something like that in my tank


The fish I listed all stay small; chromis, cardinals, O. clowns, etc. Theres a decent range of size with the blennys and gobys but definitely some that would stay small like you want. Also, they would be safe with corals and such if you decided to go that route.

I'd look into wrasses as well, a little more expensive for some, but a lot of them (like the flasher wrasses) stay small and have some great colors. I have a melanurus wrasse and love him. He was $30, only gets to around 4 inches or so, peaceful, and very active. He's also supposed to be good at ridding of some pests like flatworms or similar.

bertie 83 wrote:Also I hear a lot about pool filter sand but do not seem to be able to find it here. Phoned up a swimming pool company and confused them so I have little hope of finding it. Stuff is so expensive where I am too so when you do find it its rediculously priced and I hate using the Internet unless I have to to purchase stuff, would much rather pay money and get handed goods lol.

Lol. I do a lot of ordering online. Easier to find exactly what I want/need I guess.

I honestly never looked into getting any, to see where I could get it locally. But yeah, I do see it mentioned often and believe its close in price to play sand. It does have a better look IMO and I believe it is smoother/softer than play sand, not sure on that though. Could you go to any place that deal with pools to see if they would have some in stock maybe? Not sure what the price would be for you though. Sounds like the play sand could be the most reasonable.

Yes the arrow crab, this is one of those things I have been told I have to add lol. I hate spiders too but oh well, will look into pool filter sand to see if I can track some down. I think you are probably right about it seeming harder than it is, it's just slightly daunting after dealing with f/w only for around 2 decades lol.

Lol. I guess those arrow crabs are different at least, though they would limit what you could stock in terms of fish at least. But if its a must have the fish stocking will have to work around him anyway.

Good luck finding the pool sand, or any sand that is suitable and reasonably priced.

I know I made it seem harder on myself, over-thinking a lot when in came to a saltwater tank. I have enjoyed, still do, reading/researching so thats helped a ton.

I know the two are quite different but I do think you having that experience with freshwater tanks will help you at least in some aspects with running a saltwater tank. I can see how it would take some work getting out of the freshwater mindset at times though.

I just didn't have any experience either way before setting up the saltwater tank. I had to learn about cycling and things of that nature that you'll already understand.

IME, marines are far less docile than FW, and the coral dwellers are edgy and fractious beasts far more often than not. If you do a crushed coral + coral rubble substrate you could do a small colony of Yellow-headed Jawfish with some Yellow-tailed Blue Damsels. This a decent sized tank isn't it? After the jawfish are settled in you can add the damsels. Then when the tank becomes mature, you might consider a marine Betta if you want a "show fish" but I probably would be happy without it. I do still tend to prefer basically a species tank, with a few helpers.

Yes rtr it's approx 140 usg. So a cc and arognite mix would be a good way to go?

Just looked at those fish you suggested rtr, definate contenders thanks

I would absolutely suggest against using CC. It traps detritus. Nobody uses it anymore. As a matter of fact, most folks I know just use sand. No need to be concerned about buffering, with using salt at marine levels. Be careful with cheap pool sand--it may contain silicates & you'll be dealing with horrible diatom problems for the life of that tank. The best advice I can give you: Don't skim on SW set up! It is not a cheap area of this hobby. If you're concerned about cost at all, stay with FW.

Not so much concerned, just don't want to spend out on expensive substrate if something cheaper is just as good. Spent close to £1300 so far and still have stuff to buy. I don't want to make a mistake and want my first s/w experience to be stress free. So play sand will suffice if washed thoroughly? Won't see much substrate under the rockwork so not too worried how it looks.

I do believe play sand has silicates in it. Maybe RTR can tell us.

Yes any playsand/pool filter sand is most likely to be silicate sand (also known quartz sand). You're better off going with aragonite or some other brand of sand that specifically tells you what type of sand it is/where it came from. I believe there are many different sands for sale for the aquarium that are not silicate and come from different regions where the sand is made up of elements other then silicate.

I had understood that play sand did contain silicates, wasn't sure about pool filter sand though, that and the look/color is why I just went with aragonite.

I believe the damsels mentioned are usually relatively peaceful compared to others but damsels are generally (or end up) being semi/aggressive. I believe you had mentioned a peaceful tank so I just wanted to bring that up, though I'm sure you'll do your research.

The marine betta is actually the fish I mentioned I was looking into getting that will run me $70. Its a lovely looking fish I'm just not a hundred percent certain if it may not work out with the puffer with its fins and such. I do feel safer that I do just have the toby puffer and not the GSP in terms of their temperment.

Jawfish are another group that I've been looking into. I absolutely love the blue dot jawfish but I just can't see myself spending that much on one. I'm also thinking I had read I would need to do something different with my substrate for me to have on in my tank (deeper maybe).

Beautiful fish though
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=748


Saltwater certainly isn't cheap, I would be afraid to even add up my total costs so far. I have made a few mistakes when its came to equipment or such purchased and have definitely learned not to go with something cheaper because I'll likely have to spend more later on to upgrade (this was the case with my powerheads-just something I thought up right off).