The Puffer Forum

Well, it most certainly has been a LONG time since I have posted here. I got bit by the reef bug, and have been swimming in salt water ever since I acclimated Penguin, my Green Spotted Puffer, to saltwater.

Right now she is in full marine conditions, with a SG of 1.024, in a 35gal tank with about 20lbs of live rock and a yellow tailed black chromis as a tank mate (perfect demeanor to live with the puffer, both of them are blood thirsty and jerks :p). The tank is more hair algae than anything else, unfortunately, but with me being at school, its hard to maintain it and my brother isnt all up on the saltwater stuff (he's still a freshie guy).

For a long time I've dreamed about a 60 cube (24"x24"x24") for Penguin. Drilled for a sump so I can have a skimmer and a fuge down there for her (I told you, the SW bug bit hard). I also planned on making a very unique agrocrete structure in the center of the tank, sort of a column for her to swim around. As sort of an irony, the only coral I plan on having in the tank is well, GSPs (green star polyps) but I'm not sure any more. She's lived with corals and tasted them but didnt like it and left them alone (save for the kenya tree which she kept trimmed back).

Up until today this had all been a dream as a new 60gal cube was going to run me about $300 just for the tank and stand. Well, a local reef group I beloing to has a selling forum and low-and-behold a 60gal cube came up for sale, for $60 bucks! I jumped on it - after some encouragement from my girlfriend.

Penguin loves flow, so I'm probably going to have a closed loop for flow in the tank, with a Mag 7 or 9, but thats after I get some money. I'm currently financially strapped due to a coral propogation system, an iguana cage/paradise, car insurance, and tuition, but I'm hoping to have the new tank up and running mid spring at the latest. Perhaps I'll go get some 2x4s for the stand this upcoming weekend.

I'm probably going to have a cheap VHO setup for lighting on the tank. And no substrate. I am not a big fan of the bare bottom philosophy in reef tanks, it looks unnatural, but Penguin is a pig when it comes to eating, and bare bottom will give me a better opportunity to siphon the detrius in the tank and also make it more apparent (with sand, her tank looks cleaner than it really is, and should be cleaned more than it gets).

Anyways, I'm glad to be back, and just wanted to update everyone with what I've been up to.

This is a bump for suggestions disguised in more info. During class today, I had plenty of time to dream about this, and draw up some plans (unfortunately I dont have the USB cable for my scanner, so I cant upload, but I plan on doing a mock up sometime in the near future in Photoshop).

Anyways - I've been thinking about the closed loop. I hate the visible PVC in the tank, and I was planning a closed loop. I figured that since all of the liverock in the tank is going to be the agrocrete structure in the middle of the tank, and since its going to be agrocrete, I could do ANYTHING I wanted with it. Well, I'm going to embed the closed loop into the agrocrete structure. I'm going to have three outputs, one of which will be split into two, each controllable via a ball valve above the water and that is going to be the only flow in the tank, except for the return from the sump, which I'm still thinking about. I might add that into the rock structure for another output as well, but I'm not sure yet.

Also, I have an interesting plan for lighting, considering lighting the center of the tank would be an absolute waste given my rockwork plan, I'm going to have one bulb on the left and right of the tank, and then two on the front running perpendicular to the other bulbs (parallel to the front).

I am so excited to get working on this, unfortunately I've got other projects going on that will likely delay it. Once I actually get anything going on it, I'll be sure to get photos on this page.

Well, here's the first of soon to be MANY pictures.



I picked up the tank yesterday and built part of the stand today. I have a few more supports to add in so that the weight isnt resting on the screws, but rather on the 2x4s, but I ran out of 2x4s. At any rate, this was my first experiment with the self timer on my camera - so forgive the reflection off the top of my car.

I plan on getting the rough stand finished this week, and skinning it next weekend. I also purchased material for the canopy, so I'll hopefully be able to get that rolling soon.

Lighting will DEFINATELY be 4x 30W 18" VHOs. Three 10K and one actinic all driven off of a 220W ARO Ballast. Flow is likely going to be a Mag 12.

Well good news coupled with bad news. Bad news first - the return pump for my coral propagation system is too large. The Mag 12 has the water flowing so fast it creates more microbubbles than water - partially due to poor sump design, but also partially due to a huge pump.

The good news is that I was planning a Mag 12 for Penguin's closed loop, so as soon as I find a Mag 9.5 for sale locally, the frag tank is getting a down grade and the puffers tank is one step closer to completition.

I got some quotes on 18" VHOs, I want to check into local prices as well. For the time being I am going to have the PVC in place for a sump, but not run a sump until I have the money for a return pump. I hope to start the agrocrete structure within two weeks, and the plumbing will be laid out prior to that since its being embedded into the agrocrete. At any rate, I am probably going to skin the stand this weekend when my parents are up here.

I picked up some 1" spaflex yesterday - mostly for use in my coral propagation system, however, I got 10' of it, so I'll be using some in Penguin's new house so I have a little bit of flexibility in PVC placement.

I've got a few clever ideas for the canopy, but I need to do some more planning before I commit to anything. My goal is to have the lighting system on rails like a cabinet drawer, so I can remove it completely and have full access to the tank. The front and two sides will have completely removeable panels so I have have nearly full unobstructed access to the tank. I'm definately going tall with the canopy, despite not having to, incase I decide to upgrade lighting in the future, also so I have room to maneuver equipment in the tank.

To get the tank where I want it, I'm going to have to build a new television stand/entertainment center because the one currently in place is too large for where the cube is going. Its location will provide two completely visible faces and one partially visible faces. I'll be able to see it in the kitchen, dining room, living room and probably from outside :p

Well, funds have been tight, but my imagination is running wild. I'm a big fan of having a sump on my tanks, and this tank will be no exception. Due to the cube tank however, my space is limited. I'm pretty handy, so I figure, why not maximize the size of the sump (literally).

I submit to you, a 3D rendering of the design!



I'm not going super extravogent here. I'll have plenty of room for a skimmer when I make it for the tank, and the rest of the area will be for the fuge. The return section should hold a decent amount of water, but to be sure, I am going to have an auto top off setup for this tank, as well as my prop system in the basement (fed by the same top off bucket).

I'm hoping to begin working on the tank again over spring break, which is only 6 days away. My goal is to have the structure of the stand, canopy, and rear piece set during break, and also begin pricing out pieces for the custom sump.

Wow... I don't think I could ever fit a sump under my 60 cube unless I went with that iron stand they make for it. (btw, there's a warehouse in SE WI that is horrible with fish but has great tanks, I got my cube there for $80 brand new, but $60 is nothing to sneeze at, good thought for the future if you need to buy more tanks, it would probably be worth the drive)

That looks like it will be great, its pretty much everything I wanted to do with mine, including the central "tower" with filtration built into it. After seeing those Ceylons at the store today, I wish I had...

WOW! $80 brand new?! I've been shopping around for a 60 cube, and the cheapest I could find it already at a store was nearly $300! When I saw it for $60 I just had to jump on it (actually, my girlfriend saw it and called me, woke me up, and told me I needed to buy it). I've just started playing with SketchUp which is the 3D rendering program that I used, and I'm hoping to get the whole thing set in there including the stand, canopy, lighting, etc.

The sump... thats going to be a trick. I've got a few glass shops in the area that could cut the custom glass, its just a matter of cost. I'll probably have to assemble it in the stand, or take the top of the stand off and set it in through the top.

Hopefully I'll have some progress shots in the coming weeks!

WOO HOO! I had some extra time today after I got off of work, so I reworked the stand a bit. The pieces that extend past the tank are so I have something to mount the side of the stand to and to cover the plumbing of the tank. This will also be the support backbone for the canopy, so no weight is added to the top of the tank; since the canopy will contain not only lighting, but ventillation, the mag 12 for the closed loop, and a few other goodies that I'm planning.

I need to get to home depot and invest in some plywood for inside the stand, as well as for the top since its not exactly true (danged ruler that doesnt measure well, or perhaps its my carpentry skills lacking a bit). At any rate, I'll probably get those and cut them to size and painted this weekend and bring them back up to Lansing with me. I'm also going to get prices on a few different sump designs, because while the one I posted above would not only be the largest possible, it'd be awesome to do something different, but costs might prohibit it. We'll have to see how it goes.

I also ran into my first problem. And its a biggie. We had to, in a rush, move the puffer from my brother's bedroom, to my mom's den downstairs. She made the move fine, but my mom is getting attached... So... this whole thing might not end up being in Lansing with me, but rather back in St. Clair Shores, with my family. At this point, considering my parents are the one paying the utility bills, I think we'll have to see. I've been paying for the stand and such but if she ends up back home, thats not a big deal.

Well, two weeks ago I made the PVC closed loop, and also the agrocrete structure to go around it. I was in a hurry to get it out of the sand Sunday but the agrocrete wasnt really dry and cured so I decided to wait until the next time I was home (which happened to be today) to uncover the rocks.


This is it still in the bucket. I had a cardboard shroud created to extend the height of the bucket all the way so I could make it one contiguous piece.


Right out of the bucket, it had sand caked into all of its little crevices. I got out the air gun (because the hose I used to rinse off the other agrocrete rocks that I made at the same time had frozen) and I was left with this:


This is actually pretty amazing, I was quite thrilled. I only wish that the tank was here so I could start working on the plumbing and finishing the stand and canopy.

Very nice! That is going to look great, especially after it gets some "good stuff" growing on it.

Are you planning on starting to soak that now? A friend of mine made his own "live rock" out of agrocrete and he said he had to soak it for months before it stopped making the hardness levels of his water skyrocket way out of acceptable range.

Yeah, I'm starting to cure it this weekend. Truth be told, I've never made a rock this large but in the past they havent taken more than a few weeks to cure getting multiple water changes daily (toilet tank) but this wont fit so I'm guestimating a month or two. After the salt in it has disolved, I am going to accelerate the curing with a muratic acid bath.

What a great idea, toilet tank! It wouldnt' work in my water, they'd end up covered in rust, but good to know!

Yeah, I read about it somewhere on RC a while ago, and with smaller rocks it works great, however, this mamoth of a rock structre wouldnt fit in ANY of our toilets. :p

I'm going to be using a garbage can to cure it, and my other rocks in. Due to the availability of good water (ie, watter without high levels of lead in it) I will likely do a few water changes to disolve the rocksalt I used and after that I will likely do a muratic acid bath, and then a vinegar bath, and finally a few days in freshwater again just to make sure, and then they'll be tossed into the sump of the frag system to become live rock, and then swapped out for live rock that is less interesting from the 150 and added to my puffers tank as well.

Well, I wimped out (or rather, my wallet did) and I wont be doing the super cool interesting sump that I had rendered above. Too many complications and cost was going to be very prohibitive. I'm currently debating between a few different designs using a standard 29gal tank (30x12.5x18). I think that this will allow for maximum function, while maintaining useable size. On top of that, I already have the 29gal tank so cost will be very minimal in pieces of glass.

I've got a rendering of my plan, I'll post it later tonite when I'm not at work.

It also seems that this tank wont wind up with me while I'm at college (despite having space for it). My mom has fallen in love with the puffer at home, and as such, I'll likely be bringing the tank, stand, sump, etc back home to setup there in place of her 35gal aquarium currently.