The Puffer Forum

So I am currently in the process of going saltwater.
I have a 105g rimless tank with a custom removable egg crate top for when I am not home and while sleeping.


At first this tank will be a temp home for a pair of puffers (porcupine,Mappa or stars and stripes) possibly that combo maybe something different.
We are moving in about 8 months and the 300g will then be installed and both the puffers will be moved over to the 300g.
I wanted to start them off in the 105g because of there size. They will only be about 3" each when I get them introducing them at the same time.
I figured this was my best shot and making this work.

Once the 300g is up and running and everyone is happy the 105g will be turned into a reef tank.
So now to the real question and why I am posting.

I would like to buy or make the right sump the first time.
Last night I ran across a 30g breeder tank. Snagged it for $30 bucks with the intent to make my own sump.
I have plenty of live rubble rock in our 30g jbj system to throw in the refugium.


So if I understand things correctly I need to setup in order
[drain from tank and skimmer / Live rock / return pump]

Then once I want to do a reef system I need to put live sand in with the live rock and add a light (run it 4-5 hours per day)

Anyone want to chime in on this? I am feeling lost. If its better to fork over a couple hundred and buy a good sump then I will do it.
But I am pretty handy with a set of tools.


thanks for any advice.

Please do NOT combine puffer species! It never ends well.
www.melevsreef.com

Pufferpunk wrote:Please do NOT combine puffer species! It never ends well.
http://www.melevsreef.com

How can you definitively say that? (Playing devils advocate here)
I have spoken to quite a few people that have introduced the puffers while very young allowing them to grow up together.
The only issues seem to be at feeding time. But if you feed separately in the tank when older I wouldn't see an issue.

I would eventually like more than 1 puffer in my 300 gallon
so what do you think?

Horned Cow Fish?
Mappa Puffer ?

Ummm... because I've been in the hobby 40 years & have heard every story there is to tell on this.

A mappa will easily outgrow a 300g. Cowfish should be kept alone, with small, non-aggressive fish species. If it get's stressed, it will wipe out the entire tank.

Pufferpunk wrote:Ummm... because I've been in the hobby 40 years & have heard every story there is to tell on this.

I am just going off what the local stores are telling me from service calls they do.
Couple guys they take care of have a dog face and a mappa together and they are insuperable.

Pufferpunk wrote:A mappa will easily outgrow a 300g.

I was under the impression a 300g would work well for a Mappa?

Pufferpunk wrote:Cowfish should be kept alone, with small, non-aggressive fish species. If it get's stressed, it will wipe out the entire tank.

I heard these guys can get HUGE!!! I knew they could wipe out a tank if they die from stress.

I'm with pp here, very few puffers can be mixed. Puffers will also shred your corals in a reef system and make short work of any clean up crew. Lastly stories from fish shops of fish living happily together are common, is usually ends in tears, experience speaks volumes

bertie 83 wrote:Puffers will also shred your corals in a reef system and make short work of any clean up crew.

Never planned on putting them in with corals. 105 would only be turned into a reef tank after the puffers would have been settled in the 300g

The sad part with the cowfish is that they even kill themselves w/their toxin. But they are super-elegant.

LFS seem to always report "long-term" on periods of months, and commonly from over-stacked and mis-stocked tanks which do not survive long enough for the fish to mature. It is depressing how few folks keep tanks running more than a handful of years...

My general pracvtice is to plan on 10 years minimum run time. Some I do shut down at or even before 5 years, but I average more than 10 years and have some tanks in their mid to late 20s.