The Puffer Forum

I've only ever dealt with freshwater in the past and I am thinking of trying a saltwater setup, but I don't have the funds to dump tons of money into it so I was wondering if this setup would work. Like I said in the subject, I just acquired a used 40g tank with stand and an emperor 400b filter. It doesn't have any lighting right now(I'm probably just going to buy a new hood with normal lighting. I need to buy a heater for sure too. Anyway, I think a really neat set up would be a small puffer like a valentini and a little blenny.

Now for the questions! Would this combination work? Would I need live rock? Would coral sand be the best substrate? Do I need a protein skimmer? Power heads? Any other critter suggestions? If I need a protein skimmer and lots of live rock and all that jazz I might just go brackish. Would this be a better course of action? Thank you for your time!

well what kind of budget range are you looking at?

SW does requie some funds.

lighting is important, and LR is very important to keeping the tank stable. not crucial if you test alot, but very helpful. skimmers are a must with puffers in SW as they really can crash a SW tank without heavy nutrient removal. but the bettter skimmers are more expensive unless you use an airstone driven skimmer and a good air pump.

i think your best suited to BW right now and maybe look at SW when you can buy on part at a time and convert your tank to SW slowly.

then you dont have to shoulder the cost all up front.

if you really want SW then you can try though you willneed a fine substrate like sand for the goby.

other critters sure, but first what budget you have, then i can tailor a setup for you.