green spotted puffers

[rygar126]

im converting my 30 gall w/ 2.7 watts per gall to a saltwater FOWLR. i just have a couple questions. first of all, im going to keep my green spotted puffers in there during the conversion and im going to rip out all my plants and just leave the rocks and wood. im going to slowly acclimate the water to 1.024 salinity. (dont worry i did my research and green spotted puffers eventually get to full saltwater). my question is, when i put the live rock in there, wont there be big spikes in ammonia/nitrite/nitrate due the curing of the rock? what can i do about that other than buying cured live rock? second of all, what would be some good companions for my puffer? im looking at a small school of green chromis. or maybe a trigger fish. is 2.7 watts per gallon enough for FOWLR? what do you guys think?

[666]

I know nothing about puffers so I can't comment there.

 

Adding rock to a tank will spike ammonia etc. Even if you buy cured rock there will be die off. You might want to cycle the rock in a seperate tank or a bucket with a powerhead and a heater.

WPG is a horrible rule. Forget you ever heard it. You can have whatever you want to light up a FOWLR. Whatever wattage/color temperature etc. Just choose whats most visually appealling.

[FAC_WNY]

"Converting" a tank like that is just asking for a ton of problems. You really ought to just get a new tank and start from scratch. (Or get rid of the puffers, scrub out that tank, and start from scratch that way)

 

Cheers,

Fred

[Saltwater]

Just make sure no copper has ever been used in this tank.

I agree with curing the LR in a seperate Tank or Garbage Can first before it goes in the tank. You can get Base rock and put that in while the LR is curing, when you add the LR the base will eventually become live. Take out the wood!

A 30G is to small for Triggers, they are very fast swimmers need space and when they dont get it they seem to loose it.

I did find this article on them http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i1/green...ted_puppies.htm

with lots of info.

[rygar126]

what wood?

[Saltwater]

im going to keep my green spotted puffers in there during the conversion and im going to rip out all my plants and just leave the rocks and wood.

 

I was not sure you had it in your top statment, unless I took it wrong.

[Saltwater]

double post!

[rygar126]

well i cant do that anymore because from what i hear saltwater bacteria is different from freshwater bacteria. so basically i have to start over.

[Withers]

Well, either way, green spotted puffers can live through a cycle. This is from personal experience way back in my first tank when I was still taking advice from my LFS

[BKtomodachi]

To do the best for your puffers, try to have them in near fresh as younins, then at 1" go to 1.01 or so, then as they grow to their full 4-5", move them into full salinity. I wouldnt move them if they arent close to mature.

[rygar126]

they're about 3 inches right now. what would happen if i did put them in full salinity?

[BKtomodachi]

They could

-get sick.

-die.

-Be perfectly fine.

 

It's really to situational to tell. I'd have mine at about 1.020 at that point in time. I'd try it... if they look bad move 'em out.

[bradarmi]

Hey how about setting up a brackish water environment for the puffers? Slowly increase the salintity you can add mollies, scats, mudskippers, archerfish, etc. Take the lid off, put it in a window and throw some mangrove tree seeds in it and viola' you're good too go. Sorry, got the idea for myself a few months ago, can't let go.

[BKtomodachi]

That sounds just like my brackish 55. GSP, archers, mudskippers, and used to have a scat. It ate plants, though.