Time to change a tank over

[Jarred Darque]

OK, I simply put iwth my current class schedule do not have the time for my full reef tank, in fact, the tank is crashing because I cannot spend the proper time on it, i.e. at least half an hour every day.

I am thinking about a GSP. This is a 29 gallon tank with full reed equipment, high lighting, skimmer, power heads, a sand bed about 2.5-3 inches deep.

I am pretty sure that lowering the SG will kill all the live rock in the tank, or at least kill enough of it to foul the water.

So the plans are to sell all the tank internals, fish, inverts, live rock to the LFS, drain the tank, clean the sand, buy some clean either lava-rock or limestone, fill the tank back up to 1.015sg. Cycle the tank, I figure a couple of weeks-month should do it?

Put in a GSP, and slowly raise the SG up over the next year or so back to full salt.

I was thinking to help the tank cycle, I would keep one of the smaller pieces of live rock in the tank, maybe a 1-2 lb piece, let the die off add the ammonia, and let anything that doesn't die off propogate and help cycle.

If I understand right, GSPs get up to 6 inches, so the stocking limit would be only one GSP? Nothing else allowed in the tank? (if there is anything else that can go in, let me know please)

I figure I will also add maybe a couple of pieces of driftwood to the tank, or not, don't know yet, and maybe some plants. Next time I am fishing down in the gulf in the ATchafalaya bay, I may keep a few pieces of the oyster reed we pull up and put those in the tank as well, think it would look....interesting...and that is all from brackish water as well so nothing that makes it into the tank should die-off from the salinity (and I mean a weak brackish, have tested it to be 1.005-1.015 around the clock...1.005 at low tide, 1.015 at high)

list of plants would be preffered

[Nick]

Why not leave the tank just as it is, and add a 3" or so GSP? It would be quite happy at full marine with the skimming, etc to improve it's water quality.

[Myaj]

Well, one thing to think about is a 29 gallon tank only physically holds 25 gallons (they just named it "29" to differentiate it from the standard 25 gallon or something like that). Once you add in substrate, decor, etc, you are lowering it even further.

So really, a 29 isn't ideal for even a single, full grown GSP, unfortunately, although people do try it. Expect huge water changes as it gets older though, they are messy eaters and just dirty fish in general, who don't do well if their nitrates get over 20 or so.

If you were going to try it, I would initially suggest just getting the largest GSP you can find and put it in the tank at full saltwater, since its already cycled.. but you said you are having problems and its crashing.. so you don't want to do that. Puffers are very sensitive to anything "bad" in their water, so you want it nice and stable first.