The Puffer Forum

So today I was driving down the road and I saw a sign that said free junk and there was a lot of old furniture and stuff so I decided to slow down and look a little harder only to see a nice big fish tank sitting on a stand. Yeah, a 75 gallon with stand, filters, pumps, decorations...the works! I asked if they were really just giving this stuff away and they said yes because they are moving and don't even want to deal with it all! Needless to say I loaded it up right there on the spot no questions asked. I just got done cleaning it all out this evening and getting all the hard water stains off of it and it is looking really nice again and there are no leaks (I was a little worried about that). Yeah so I am pretty dang excited!

Right now I already have 3 tanks running...2 55 gals, one with my 2 GSPs and the other with my angels and then just a little 5 gallon with guppies and snails. I would like to set it up and start a new tank with new fish but living in our little apartment it just isn't going to work. What fish do you all think I should upgrade to the 75 gallon? I am kinda leaning towards the angels because then I could add some other fish whereas right now with the puffers it would just be the two little guys in there alone still. At the same time I was thinking that in about a year or so I can take the puffers full marine and then be able to add some damsels or some other saltwater with with them down the road if they are in a 75 gallon. What are your thoughts?

SW 75 w/ GSP

I'd do the GSPs too. Many have reported that they outgrow the recommended 30gal each. Might as well move them to a bigger tank from the beginning

COOL

Free 75 gal tank that is luck

I got no good luck at all, if I wouldn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have luck at all

I found $10 ones but it was taken away by my wife when we were walking

Wow you are super lucky! I would put the GSPs in it!

Yep so I guess it is decided.....I'ma go ahead and put my puffers in the 75 gallon. I had to work 12 hours today so probably tomorrow I am going to get started setting everything up. One thing I can't decide though.......in my puffers tank now I have a sand substrate that I love the looks of in my tank but thats about all I love about it. It is a pain to clean and it seems like no matter what I do some off the sand gets kicked up and into my AC filter and makes in really noisy. Anybody experience this? What if anything can I do to fix it? Anyway it is really annoying me and I think I might switch back over to gravel just for that reason. Any thoughts?

2 out of 5 of my tanks have sand which really looks great.

YES, cleaning sand is much advanced then cleaning a gravel. I would turn off filters when cleaning sand.

GSPs do best with aragonite sand. If you get a larger-sized grain & only make a 1" bed, it shouldn't kick much into the filter.

I have had good success with putting a chunk of foam over my filter intake. I had to do it my DP and shrimp tanks so the little guys don't get sucked into the filter.

The argonite sand I have used is quite fine, and I never got any problems even when I had aquaclears on it, just by letting the tank settle unfiltered for a few days. And I had the downspouts extended to within a few inches of the bottom for more efficient turnover. My sandbed is a bit deeper than an inch, but probably under two, and no problems. Given a couple days to settle and some well cured rock to seed it, argonite sandbeds seem to take care of themselves, unlike fresh and brackish beds.