The Puffer Forum

Hi All

The time has come for me to start taking my tank from Brackish to SW, before I do this I am going to be doing some upgrades to my tank. These are my plans.

Tank Upgrade:

Okay, so I decided the best is to have a sump, so the guys at the LFS are making me one. They are going to have put a overflow hole in my tank, so I have decided to get them to replace the front Glass while they are at it (current on is scratched). At the moment I am using a Fluval type external canister filter, I am planning to continue using this with the sump. The sump will be mainly for the skimmer, heater, crushed coral to buffer the water and maybe a little extra filtration.

I have been trying to figure the best way to do this so I don’t have to recycle my tank. This is what I have come up with. I am gonna give the guys at the LFS 1 week to work on the tank. So for that week I am want to put Shermy (gsp) in 20 liter bucket with the Canister filter attached to it. The rest of the water I am going to store in containers. Rotating water daily between the Containers and bucket. Do your think this will be okay?

Am I also correct in thinking that once the new tank is setup I can put the water back in from the containers, add extra freshly mixed water to the sump, connect up the Canister and everything should be okay. I should mention that the canister is for a maximum 210l tank, at the moment I have a 100l tank, and the new sump will be 60l.

I will let the whole system settle for about 3 months before I start raising the SG.

Is there any other extra’s that I am missing to maintain a SW aquarium for my GSP. Once I reach full SW will I be able to start adding other critters and plant\corals to my tank with this setup?

I can also most probably arrange to take my water, filter and fish to the LFS and use one of there tanks while they work on my tank, would this be a better idea??

This is the basic idea I have come up with for my upgrade. Any information, thoughts, criticism, corrections would be greatly appreciated.

Hi drjuzz. I can't be bothered to mess around with quotes, so hope you don't mind the italics.

I went thru a similar scenario as you -- adding a sump to my 55g in preparation for SW. I learned a few things on the way. My tank as at a couple of months ago is here. It's been marine salinity (1.026) for about six months. It's connected to a new, small reef tank in addition to the sump.

At the moment I am using a Fluval type external canister filter, I am planning to continue using this with the sump.

Do you plan to use the fluval as a return pump -- if so, it will be unlikely to work. They're not designed to push against head pressure like that. Choose a nice beefy return pump that seems far bigger than you will need. For a 100l tank, a pump rated at at least 2000 - 3000 l/h would be nice, IMO. You can hard plumb the return with PVC.

If you plan on going with a live rock system later on, a canister filter is not really the best way to go IMO, as they trap detritus.

For the overflow, you're gonna want more than a hole/bulkhead. Where's the hole? On the back? If so, you will want to enclose it by some sort of 4-sided glass box, open at the top. This will provide surface skimming. On the outside of the tank, you will want a "Tee", oriented vertically, with the lower outlet going down to the sump, and the upper outlet leading to just above the level of the water int he tank. On this you then place a PVC end cap with a small hole in it (this is to silence the gurgle of the overflow).

IMO a week for setting all this up and testing/tweaking is highly optimistic.


The sump will be mainly for the skimmer, heater, crushed coral to buffer the water and maybe a little extra filtration.

For a marine tank, if you are relying on crushed coral for buffering capacity, something is wrong! Crushed coral needs a low pH to really dissolve, and won't do much unless something is seriously out of whack. A decent marine salt at marine salinity (1.026-ish) should provide enough buffer. Careful addition of commercial buffer can also help.

That said, what substrate do you have now in order for you to want to add CC to the sump? FW substrates (pebbles, etc) will be degraded by salt and will just become an icky mess IMO. Calcareous (or silicaceous) sand would be your best bet here.

Besides, you don't want to be trapping detritus in your sump amongst the crushed coral. Best to keep it bare, unless you plan to grow stuff in there.

I have been trying to figure the best way to do this so I don’t have to recycle my tank. This is what I have come up with. I am gonna give the guys at the LFS 1 week to work on the tank. So for that week I am want to put Shermy (gsp) in 20 liter bucket with the Canister filter attached to it. The rest of the water I am going to store in containers. Rotating water daily between the Containers and bucket. Do your think this will be okay?

It's good to keep the filter running, but you should expect and be prepared (have plenty of pre-mixed water on hand) for at least some sort of a mini-cycle when you upset a system so much.

I really don't see any benefit to the whole rotation thing. Any water that's left standing will become stagnant and fairly nasty. I would chuck any water that's not being filtered or heavily aerated.

And, can you do any better than 20L? That's not much water. Should be fine for a week though.

Is there any other extra’s that I am missing to maintain a SW aquarium for my GSP. Once I reach full SW will I be able to start adding other critters and plant\corals to my tank with this setup?

Not too many other critters! And you would really need to add cured live rock first.

You may try keeping corals in there, but as GSPs are not noted for being reef safe, it is fairly irresponsible (IMO) to risk wild caught corals plucked from our poor reefs with the puffer. Others are doing it -- just look in the "marine tanks" forum, but you won't get much love from fellow hardcore coral keepers. You may be able to ease your conscience with captive propagated specimens. If you really want to try coral gardening, consider leaving out the puffer. Just my 2c worth - others will surely disagree (and you never know, I myself might cave one day and put some frags in the main tank).

You will also need to consider lighting and water flow. Individual corals have specific requirements.

I can also most probably arrange to take my water, filter and fish to the LFS and use one of there tanks while they work on my tank, would this be a better idea??

Could be, depends on how clean the tank is and if it is connected to their possibly parasite-laden central system. Only you can use your judgement here.

Good luck... if you need any more help, do post back here, or in the marine forum.

Thanks for you replay Jhong.

I wont be using the canister as a return, I will get a a pump rated at at least 2000 - 3000 l/h I have just been given another tank happy me! so i am going to pick it up soon, they thing it is a 100l. So i plan to set up the new tank Properly instead of trying to take shortcuts

But thanks for all your info I will put it all to good uses while prepareing my new tank.