The Puffer Forum

Hello,
I did a search on the forum before posting and if this info is already posted I apologize, but I was wondering if anyone could walk me through upgrading the same tank for the entire life of a GSP. Right now I have a 2 2.5" GSPs in a 75gal with aragonite sand, 2 HOB Biowheel filters at 600GPH, SG is about 1.015, with a few blue legged hermit crabs and a pair of black mollies, the tank is decorated with lace rock, base rock and fake plants. Fish are and have been very healthy. I do 40 to 50% weekly water changes.

It started out as a fully cycled fresh water tank and was bumped to 1.002 about 3 or 4 months ago and increased at about .002 during weekly water changes until it has been maintained at the current SG of 1.015.

My questions are these.

When do you add a skimmer? Any recommendations on a good standalone one?
How do you and at what SG is live rock added?
Is extra circulation needed in the lower portions of the tank when you do add the live rock?
How is this best achieved without a sump or overflow if you have limited space and are unable to add another large tank to your already over stocked with tanks house

Octopus skimmers are supposed to be really good for the money, hang on tank skimmers. The nicer models are not much more expensive, and have surface skimmers and dual powerheads. I'd start adding live rock and a skimmer at SG 1.018, or rather, I did. Both seemed fine. I have an extra powerhead in the middle of my live rock for flow increase, but also get a LOT of flow from the two aquaclear filters(packed with chemipure, purigen, biochemzorb, and carbon) on the tank.

You can also make a mini refugeum with a large HOB filter, to keep the pod population going, since your puffers will love eating them. Just fill it witl small pieces of rubble.

Thanks for the info, I was hoping that it could be something that wouldn't be too much of a transition. Also, the extra HOB with small LR rubble is an awesome idea. Thank you both for the replies.

You might want to take the biowheels off (you can use the filters, just take the wheels off). Once your salt levels get higher, they'll spray salt all over everything and not only does it make a mess, but it can corrode anything it lands on.

I think everyone pretty much covered everything, wait for a skimmer until 1.017 or 1.018, live rock a little later (look into curing it etc though.. don't want to drop it in your tank, have a bunch of die off and kill the fish).

For the extra circulation, you can always add powerheads at any time, any place. I'm actually running a 75 gallon tank with an AquaClear 500 and an 802 powerhead, plenty of current. I still intend to set my sump/fuge back up, but this is working well in the mean time.

I thought the title of this meant all at the same time...
That would be crazy cool.
Sorry

You can also stop the biowheels from spinning to reduce salt spray, they still do their thing just fine stopped.

Does LR need light requirements that a stock hood will not meet other than say the color temp of the bulb? I currently have the single stock 48" bulb hood but replaced the AGA bulb with a 50/50. It has nice color, but wasn't sure if there is a min WPG to use in combination with LR to keep stuff alive.

Well, that depends. As far as bacteria (biofilter) and inverts such as pods, light doesn't really matter. If you want to encourage the growth of any coraline algae, macro algae or corals that may hitchhike in with your live rock, then yes, you'll want better lighting. But no, as far as I know, its not necessary to just keep the rock alive as far as a biofilter and home for the creepy crawlies.

Happy New Year all!
I got a skimmer for xmas, and have it running. It's a Coralife 125. SG is around 1.017.5, doing the no more than .002 bump a week...probably could have been at 1.018-1.009 by now but didn't want to rush it without the skimmer and eventually the LR. Would 1.018 be a good time for the LR or should I wait til closer to 1.020? Also, what SG do you maintain long term for GSP's in a marine setup (like reef salinity or just at bottom end marine) and has anyone found that you can keep any corals or other marine life (non fish) that the puffers don't destroy? How about other fish like gobies or blennies? I don't want a lot of stuff, I might actually set up a reef tank at some point, I just want to know what options might exist for the puffer tank at their best SG. Also, the tank has lace rock and base rock now, but I have read that lace rock isn't so good once you up the SG. Should I remove the lace rock when I purchase the LR? I would love to hear or see setups for those of you that keep your GSP's in a marine environment.

I also heard lace rock was not good for sw, but I never found out why. I have a wrasse, blenny, snowflake eel and a
stars & stripes puffer with my GSP. Yes you can keep other fish with your puffer if your tank is big enough. My sg is 1.020. Once you get your sg up to 1.018 you can start to add your lr. Look into curing lr before adding it to your tank. I tried a few corals but my s&s kept tasting them. There are some folks on here that keep mushroom & leather corals with their gsp.