The Puffer Forum

Ok, so how much more work is it to maintain a brackish tank for a puffer vs a freshwater tank? Again, I had a freshwater tank before, but what more would be required for the brackish. How much more would be required for full marine? I guess I would need to know how much more as far a physically and how much more equipment. Thanks all.

Saltwater is much different and much more expensive to set up initially, with a lot less room for error. Low end brackish isn't much more expensive or difficult than freshwater. Just need marine salt and a hydrometer or refractometer that measures from 1.000.

So basically same thing as fresh, just need to keep marine salt in it and keep an eye on the salinty?

For low end brackish, yes.

For a "proper" marine setup, in addition to the things you need for freshwater, you are looking at ~ 2-3lbs of cured live rock per gallon, a protein skimmer, powerheads, preferably a sump of some sort, SW testing kit, a hydrometer (preferably refractometer), and salt obviously. This is all very expensive - for a 50g tank, cured live rock alone is probably going to cost you $500-$800.
If you want to keep corals, lighting gets very expensive as well.
And like Boxermom said, a marine system is far less forgiving, and a 50g in SW terms is pretty small and unstable, especially for a beginner.

Not trying to scare you away from doing it, but I'd just want you to know what you're getting into if you plan on keeping a puffer.

I would think 1 1/2-2lbs of LR/g would be fine. You could also just add enough salt to make it high'end BW & add a skimmer but you'd still have to do large weekly water changes, costing $$$ too. I used 10 cups of salt weekly, on my 55g.

wow. this is what i was looking for. i am not trying to make it sound as if i am lazy, but right now the military occupies majority of my time, so i have to find something that doesnt require a lot of maintenance. I guess i need to stick to the freshwater, lol. I really want a tank again bad though...Thanks all.