Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - Reef Tank DIY

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash (Post 1018767)

Hi all,
I've been stalling on my tank upgrade because I'm feeling way out of my depth (see what I did there), and I've been hesitant to start a build thread here because you're all so intimidating to a newbie like me. :mrgreen: Anyway, I thought perhaps others out there like me would be interested in something like this instead of the amazing tank builds you usually see here, so I'm taking the big leap forward.

My 75-gal tank will be 2 years old this November. I bought 2 green spotted puffers that the LFS told me were freshwater, and long story short, eventually ended up buying a used tank on CL and setting up a SW tank for them with the help of some nice folks on the Puffer Forum. I learned about live rock and mixing salt, and now I think I'm hooked. My current set-up is pretty medieval. All second-hand stuff except for the lights. No sump, hob Remora skimmer, SB Reef lights. I do a 16-gal water change once a month with buckets, and manually top off water twice a day. I do not use RODI water. (Please don't hate me).

My fish in order of when they were added: 2 green spotted puffers, YWG+shrimp pair, ocellaris clown pair, long nose hawkfish, mandarin, tail spot blenny, flame hawkfish.
Coral...a bit of everything including RBTAs (a lot of 'em), zoas, and some lps & sps.

I've been having a real blast thus far and luckily have all my original livestock, except for a lawnmower blenny who wouldn't eat and a long-nose hawkfish that jumped (RIP Lenny & Fergus:cry:).

However, I know my skimmer is barely able to keep up, I need to learn about dosing, and I'd like to set up a sump so I can have a refugium to increase pod population (for future girlfriend for my mandarin).

*note: apologies for crummy iphone pics

My immediate hurdle - I have no idea how to plumb this.

Those little puffers make all fresh water guys turn. I ALSO got into to salt because of those little puffers and never looked back. Not even close to being the same thing.

A sump is JUST another tank and nothing more no matter what others might say. A hang on filter is fine. Although I am a firm believer in a good skimmer.

mrdss...
Glad to hear there's another Green Spotted Puffer fan out there:) These guys are the most personable fish around and it's easy to get very attached to them. So much smarter than the other fish, and of course the expressive eyes are wonderful. Would love to see pics of your GSP? How long have you had them?

Puff Diddy:
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/940/3...c62c20b1_c.jpg

Nancy:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4713/...88e6c3b9_c.jpg

Hahaha those puffers are hilarious! They look like lots of fun.

A long while back, I noticed there were hitchhikers on my turbo snail. At first I thought they might be babies, then harmless symbionts scraping the glass alongside their host.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1920/...ee7a717a_c.jpg

Now, I noticed one on the shell of my Halloween hermit and decided to pry it off as it was getting big. I saw it had worn a little hole in the hermit's shell, and then I remembered my big turbo dying a couple months ago (I have my original 4 snails). Could they be parasitic? Anyway, I fished out my remaining turbos and pried all the little guys off. Sure enough, they had damaged the host shells. Then, because my puffers said please, I gave them a little treat. They were like oysters on the half shell for these guys. :twised:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1915/...e434e1ae_c.jpg

Those guys look awesome! My kids will want them for sure if they see them!

I'll entertain this...

They need to be found at a freshie store and acclimated to salt correct?
They'll decimate the bunch of trocus snails I just bought? And my cleaner shrimp?

Anyways I enjoy the pics of your tanks progression! Looking good!

Yeah they’re usually sold as freshwater. I haven’t seen them around lately, maybe because of their reputation for being “difficult.” I haven’t found this to be the case. Some people acclimate them by slowly raising their salinity over months but I took the advice of doing a 24-hour drip. They were totally fine.

They love shellfish as much as I do, ha ha. Crustaceans are their natural prey. Most CUC have enough protection against them - I have snails, hermits, urchins and have not lost any. However I would not keep shrimp (although I do have a pistol with YWG).

They are my faves for sure.

I cannot believe the puffers are freshwater lol. They look like they have some awesome personality in the tank.

My first aptasia!

I always remove whatever I buy from frag plugs (mostly because I don't like the look of them), but when I got SpongeBob, I didn't want to disturb him thinking he'd die for sure, and he was fully encrusted on his little rock plate. Anyway, I got him in back in June and he's been doing his thing, which is a lot of nothing thankfully. Then the other day as I was moving things around as I often do, I see....dun dun dun - aptasia! My first encounter. Six of them peeking out all around his plate. Where have they been hiding all this time?

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1913/...61352afe_b.jpg

After some quick googling, I decided to fish him out in a clear container and injected a bit of vinegar into each one. One of the larger ones withered & hung down in a heap immediately. It's been a few days and no re-appearance but I will keep an eye on Bob for a while.

When I get a frag/coral/sponge that I can't separate from the base or there are dead areas of the base that are exposed I always cut off as much as I can and I cover the rest with superglue right up to and on the edge of the live tissue. This helps reduce the potential for unwanted hitchhikers.

Hopefully they have not spread elsewhere

I have to admit this was one addition I didn't inspect as carefully as I usually do. I was so worried about getting it into the tank without exposing it to air. It sure goes to prove how easy it is to bring a pest into the tank. On the other hand, my examination of it in the clear container also showed a low-growing cool sponge on the rock. So there's good with the bad.