New 55 Gallon Budget FOWLR tank

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Bruiser99

New Member
Hello! I've been reading this forum for a couple months now and you guys have already helped me out like crazy!

I have a 10G freshwater tank I've been taking care of since Christmas. I got 2 (what I thought) were dwarf puffers from wal-Matt and it turns out they are Green Spotted Puffers. They are still pretty young at 1 1/2". I've already gotten attatched and named them so I want to have a great setup but also wanna stay in budget, not get too crazy. 55 gallons should be good for 2 of em, correct?

I have a 55 Gallon TopFin with the starter kit. I added the live sand, 10 lb piece of dry rock and 6 lb piece of live rock to get it cycled. The guy at the reef store is an old buddy (whom I trust) so he hooked me up with some bacteria to get it going. The filter is only a 60, so I plan on upgrading it. Simple LED lights will work for now-they look ok. The heater is a 200W. I've got the water testing kit, hydrometer, and InstantOcean sea salt so I'll start that In a few days.

My vision for the tank is just my puffers for now but a black ocellaris and an anemone further down the line because my kid loves em (compromising and such). I'll need a good cleaning crew because I'm planning on only going with a refugium and no sump. I'm also going to keep my ratio of live rock to dry rock going and hopefully turn the dry rocks live.

I need tips on getting my puffers acclimated because they are still in the 10G right now. Looking to have them in the bigger tank in a month if the water is right.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?
 

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lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I'd suggest about 4 times more rock. I buy pukani dry rock from bulk reef supply. It is in expensive and less dense than most so the $3.5 per pound gets you a lot more rock. 20 to 30 pounds of pukani will go a long way. That rock provides most of your filtration so it is important to have enough.
You will also need some power heads. Sunsun on Amazon makes a decent power head for around $10 I'd get 2, 800 GPH for a 55 one for each end of the tank. With enough rock and water movement your filter will be fine.
The puffers are brackish water fish. Somewhere between fresh and full salt. Im not sure if they can take full salt which you need for a clown. Before you move them very slowly increase the salinity of the tank they are in. Take a couple weeks increasing it a tiny bit every day. A good way to do this is to replace the evaporated water with full salt water. Once the water is full salt you need to top off with fresh water as the salt doesn't evaporate. When you make salt water be sure to use reverse osmosis (RO) water not tap water. You can buy it at a lot of fish stores or most large grocery stores have self serve units that are pretty cheap. At Walmart it is $0.37 per gallon. A pain to haul but a 55 is a small tank so you can easily get 10 gallons at a time for weekly water changes and top offs. This is how to raise the salinity but it doesn't mean the fish can take that salinity. I'd do a bunch of research on the fish you have and the fish you want in the future to make sure it is even possible.
You can use the 10 gallon you have now as a quarantine tank for future fish. This is a must for salt water. One fish with a parasite can while out your whole tank. This is especially true for your puffers who haven't been in saltwater and will have never been exposed to saltwater fish diseases.
Good luck. Take it very slow, do your research, ask a lot of questions and enjoy it.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Agreed w above. There not a full sw puffer. They can be aggressive little suckers so tankmates must be chosen carefully
 
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Bruiser99

New Member
lmforbis said:
I'd suggest about 4 times more rock. I buy pukani dry rock from bulk reef supply. It is in expensive and less dense than most so the $3.5 per pound gets you a lot more rock. 20 to 30 pounds of pukani will go a long way. That rock provides most of your filtration so it is important to have enough.
You will also need some power heads. Sunsun on Amazon makes a decent power head for around $10 I'd get 2, 800 GPH for a 55 one for each end of the tank. With enough rock and water movement your filter will be fine.
The puffers are brackish water fish. Somewhere between fresh and full salt. Im not sure if they can take full salt which you need for a clown. Before you move them very slowly increase the salinity of the tank they are in. Take a couple weeks increasing it a tiny bit every day. A good way to do this is to replace the evaporated water with full salt water. Once the water is full salt you need to top off with fresh water as the salt doesn't evaporate. When you make salt water be sure to use reverse osmosis (RO) water not tap water. You can buy it at a lot of fish stores or most large grocery stores have self serve units that are pretty cheap. At Walmart it is $0.37 per gallon. A pain to haul but a 55 is a small tank so you can easily get 10 gallons at a time for weekly water changes and top offs. This is how to raise the salinity but it doesn't mean the fish can take that salinity. I'd do a bunch of research on the fish you have and the fish you want in the future to make sure it is even possible.
You can use the 10 gallon you have now as a quarantine tank for future fish. This is a must for salt water. One fish with a parasite can while out your whole tank. This is especially true for your puffers who haven't been in saltwater and will have never been exposed to saltwater fish diseases.
Good luck. Take it very slow, do your research, ask a lot of questions and enjoy it.
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Ok thanks a lot for replying! More rock is definitely on the way...ill keep that ratio going.

Powerheads I'll look into online because that's much cheaper than any I've seen in my LFS.

Also should've put in there that my tank is full with RO water right now from Elite Reef. Distilled water works just fine as a replacement? Awesome..my dad used to do the same thing..

A lot of places online say that all fish can take up to .008 SG? That correct? In that case, I'll just get my DT and current freshwater tank at the same level and conversion should be easy.

I'm going to just get another 10G and the simple parts needed to make a QT because my freshwater is officially a house tank for everyone so there's that...

Since the Ocellaris option might be out, any other suggestions on tankmates that these guys won't eat or nip at? My damn freshwater buddies have GOT to be pissed at me right now..
 
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Bruiser99

New Member
jay0705 said:
Agreed w above. There not a full sw puffer. They can be aggressive little suckers so tankmates must be chosen carefully
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Thanks for replying! My LFS has a Goby that I fell for but I'd need to increase my sand for him to be happy, right?

Also I've read and seen on YouTube that as long as you convert them slowly, green spotted puffers (GSPs) can live in full salt. That would obviously grow my options exponentially. I've got the Saltwater for dummies book that I've had my head in for a couple weeks now, along with this forum. This crap really is addicting lol.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Yes it is. Fw to sw can be done w certain fish. I've done it w mollys easily. That said sw fish don't always mix well w them. Clowns w small puffers should be fine. Just remember your cuc will be lunch to most puffers.
 
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Bruiser99

New Member
Kristin1234 said:
Wal mart sells puffers?

Wow.
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Yeap they had a gang of em. The Walmart by my house isn't as horrible as most of them but still way too many puffers in their small setup. Mine are pretty healthy for the most part-one of em has the stringy poo. What exactly does that mean? They both have bright green spots on their heads, have great appetites, white bellies, and greet me when I walk in the room. I've only had them for maybe a month and they already eat out of my hand!
 
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Bruiser99

New Member
jay0705 said:
What r u feeding them
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I am at a LFS almost everyday getting the pest snails for them. They both love em. One of em is like a vacuum, he will even eat the flake I use for the Molly and pick at the pellets for the lobster. The other only eats the snails and brine shrimp I give them every other day.
 
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Bruiser99

New Member
jay0705 said:
Yes it is. Fw to sw can be done w certain fish. I've done it w mollys easily. That said sw fish don't always mix well w them. Clowns w small puffers should be fine. Just remember your cuc will be lunch to most puffers.
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I know puffers get bigger..but what exactly is a small puffer? These guys only get to 6", which is the smallest among non-dwarf puffers I've seen.
 
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Bruiser99

New Member
Update:I was adding my salt to my DT for the first time and I notice these small white specks on my both of my puffers. This is my first time seeing this! I know to look out for white spots in ich but I don't know if this is it! Anybody able to tell?
 

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beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
you might want to look into macro algae. they are the marine equivalent to plants. but they do need com protection from fish as most fish will eat them. Even just a simple partition to separate the macro algae from the fish will do.

With macro algae you get a tank that is balanced out a stabilized so it is much easier maintain.

my .02
 
Kristin1234

Kristin1234

Active Member
You added just salt to your display tank with the the fish?

You should always premix your water 24 hours with circulation prior to adding to your tank.
 
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Bruiser99

New Member
beaslbob said:
you might want to look into macro algae. they are the marine equivalent to plants. but they do need com protection from fish as most fish will eat them. Even just a simple partition to separate the macro algae from the fish will do.

With macro algae you get a tank that is balanced out a stabilized so it is much easier maintain.

my .02
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I'm planning on getting a 5-10 gallon HOB refugium setup tomorrow! Hopefully this works well as it is $60 from my LFS. Your route sounds like it could work too-I'd just use fish-safe glue and have a piece of glass cut for that, right? What thickness would you recommend?
 
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