The Puffer Forum

OK,
I'm very excited, I got my 180gal tank this last week and I'm in the process of setting it up. The setup process is going to be very slow because of cost of equipment and I'm building my sump, overflow, and a new stand with canopy and lights. I'm also saving up to buy a Red Sea C-Skim 1200. The sump is going to be around 58 gal with 1/3 of that fuge with LS, LR, and Chaetomorpha Algae. Water flow of 1200gph plus the 300 from the skimmer. In the take I'm going for a 50/50 mix of Agramax sand and LR (don't know how much yet). Stock going in the tank will be one Porcupine Puffer and two Juvenile Emperor Angelfish.

I was thinking of adding a Fluidized bed filter or would that be overkill and harmful to the bacterial balance of the sump/fuge? By doing this should I reduce the size of the sump and skimmer (pretty sure of this answer)?

Any other suggestions? I want to get this right before I put in any fish.

that all sounds great, but I would reconsider the stocking. there won't be enough room for an adult Pork and One Emperor...

I think a porc & 1 Emperor should work in a 180. I highly suggest getting that tank drilled for a sump. One good thing an overflow is good for is--OVERFLOWING!

And I think the FBF is a little overkill. just make sure you get enough LR.

Where would a person go about getting a tank drilled for a sump?

Also, any stocking suggestions to go with the Porc?

well if you have nerves of steel, you can try it yourself...
But a glass shop or a LFS might be better.

PP is right that the two you mentioned could work. (I forgot about the sump)

If we were to go with one Porc and one Emperor, is there any other fish we could add to give a little color?

I agree--I think a DSB in the fuge would be good.

Ok, I'm going to play totally ignorant (not a huge stretch of imagination) here. Can someone explain how a drilled tank works vs 1 or 2 large overflow boxes. What I was thinking was two overflow boxes, each about 15 inches long with 1.5 inch stand pipe to the sump. Am i on the right track to keep from flooding my house?

Nope, they are a really bad idea. A Reef Ready tank is always best to buy.
http://www.fishtankshop.com/reefreadyfishtanks.html

Not really something you want to do on your own though.
http://www.wetdryfilter.com/drilling_holes.htm
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zwc3o_rGm ... re=related

Jase wrote:well if you have nerves of steel, you can try it yourself...
But a glass shop or a LFS might be better.

PP is right that the two you mentioned could work. (I forgot about the sump)

My nerves are nerves of aluminum. Hopefully I can get the local glass shop to come in and drill it for me, nearly had a mild heart attack carrying this bad boy in the house. Mighty tight doors to get through....

You'll be much happier with it drilled.

did you catch PP's DSB (deep sand bed) post?

Lots of work ahead... It'll be worth it in the end.

Just an FYI, ALL Aqueon/All-Glass aquariums over 55g have tempered glass bottoms. You cannot drill those, it will simply shatter the glass.

I didn't catch the DSB post.

The way I figure it is I'll have this up and cycling by July at the earliest. I talked with the local glass shop (we only have one) and they do not drill aquariums because of liability and the possibility of the glass being tempered. I talked with the LFS owner, who also happens to have a "reef club" that meets monthly, and he suggested going with the overflow boxes because of the risk involved with drilling if it is tempered glass. He took me to his house and showed me his 200gal that he is running with overflow boxes and how he has it set up not to flood. He has check valves setup in his return line to stop back siphon if the power goes out and he has a floating switch to turn off his return pump if he breaks siphon in the siphon tube. One other thing he did that I never would have thought of was drilled a small hole, angled with the flow, in the return line. If power failure water would start the reverse siphon, get to the hole and start taking in air, says it's a nice fail safe in case the check valve doesn't work for some odd reason.