100Litre F8 Puffer Tank (Brackish Water)

[Livewire88]

Very nice indeed mate... Are you going to get him a friend?

Oh, and i would move the Ludwigia at the front as the eye is automatically drawn to it.

He will be getting a friend in the new year, The LFS where I bought him will be receiving the next batch early January. I am so glad I decided on Puffers they are so cool to watch, I cant wait to give him his first feed I bought some frozen fish so I will feed him a small amount later before the lights go out.

ps; I will deal with the Ludwigia tomorrow

 

[minnnt]

Yeah they're great to watch feeding. Don't be alarmed if his stomach goes square. Try and get some snails breeding, the stalking is very funny to watch.

Another few months and you will be upgrading to a 10ft x 3ft x 3ft tank for a Mbu!

 

[Livewire88]

Update;

Unfortunately Algea has taken hold in various forms, not enough circulation? to much light? wrong type of light? hmmm

Yesterday I replaced the cheap T5 bulb with a 39watt Arcadia T5 Plant Pro Bulb, which gives a lot nicer light than the bargain bulb, straight away all the stems opened up a lot wider and I will be dosing double the amount of Flourish Excel over the next week to see if the algea clears up at all.

Also I am waiting for a Pesssurised Co2 Set up to arrive in the post so once it has I will be running it on this tank. The Figure 8 Puffer is happy as can be and has been feeding daily and swimming up to greet me whenever I enter the room
I am in process of finding a nice piece of black cardboard to put on the back of the tank, but will be cleaning all the Algea of the back of tank shortly.

Photos;

Look at the stems at the back, they have opened out much more to the light given off by the new bulb.

Here is some nasty looking Algea (bit of food stuck to it, now removed)

And here are some plants I bought from my LFS, just dont want to put them in to get covered in Algea

So here starts my War against Algea Stay Tuned.

 

[minnnt]

Looks to be only diatoms. Usual in a newly setup tank. Too much light is probably the cause. Maybe a 24w bulb would have been better? IF you plan on staying freshwater with the puffer then maybe the addition of a couple of Otocinclus would be ideal to help out. Pretty sure they would clean the diatoms sharpish as it is a soft kind of algae if that makes sense? Just keep an eye on them and the Puffer to see if there is any nipping happening. If so then at least you have another tank to which you can move them to. I would have thought they would be fine though, especially if you're keeping him well fed! I am currently starving mine in an attempt to make them search for the snails rather than just rely on me and they don't bother my two Oto's.

 

[ian]

agree, with Minnnt, can i suggest getting some Purigen, it's the best diatom filter available.

you need to get those old sword leaves off asap, they won't be helping matters.

 

[minnnt]

Yeah deteriorating plant matter will add to algae issues. Purigen and new filter floss will ensure that your water stays in A1 condition. A black bag will work well as a background

 

[Livewire88]

Cool thanks, I will get busy trimming the dead leaves tomorrow

And will order some Purigen and pinch a pair of tights from the misses to cut up and use as media bags

 

[minnnt]

Yep, they work a treat. They don't work so well for the missus afterwards though

 

[Livewire88]

Quite a big update here!! the main thing to note is I HATE SAND, I have tried so hard to get to like it but I just cant IMO it is horrible. Therefore the sand is gone and in is good old gravel

Also I have stripped out the bulk of the plants and chucked them away, the main reason for this is a lot were covered in Algea which I "think" was caused as a result of using 2 cheap 39w bulbs, now only using 1 Arcadia Plant Pro 39w bulb which looks a lot nicer. As you can see the tank is quite bare now and is in need of lots of plants. The Presurised CO2 will be running on this tank in the next few days so hopefully the plants that are in there will take off and grow fast, (we shall see)

Photo VERY BARE

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Ah that's a shame I'm gutted for ya dude

 

[Livewire88]

Ah that's a shame I'm gutted for ya dude

Thats ok, am quite happy now the sand has gone, will be fun making it look nice

 

[minnnt]

Nice gravel. (fao stu)

I like it. You just need some more plants mate. Any other plans?

 

[Livewire88]

Update; 2nd big update this week

The puffer has Ich I have grown quite fond of him so there is only 1 option;

Yep I am going Brackish with this tank, this obviously means it wont be much of a planted tank anymore. This is not a problem as I was starting to get tired of having to maintain 2 planted tanks so this tank should end us less maintenence (I hope)
The plan is to gradually introduce the salt so not to kill the filter bacteria, will be adding 75grams of salt gradually every other day intill the salinity is around SG 1.002-1.003.

Now I have to decide on what to do in regards to the decor in the tank but will update once I have figured it out.

 

[minnnt]

Woohoo!

Vallis, rockwork and wood!

Also, look in the brackish section, there is a thread asking about peoples tanks with pics and there is a great one using plastic plants. Very nice indeed.

Mattlee uses the plastic terrarium/vivarium plants in his tanks due to big fish, so you will still be able to have it "planted" so to speak.

Also... Check google and youtube for further inspiration.

So, any tankmates now? Maybe some gobies of some sort?

Glad you have followed Neales advice, its the only way really, well done matey.

 

[mike455555]

looks good... so much for a plant only tank in your shed...

i think java moss and java fern can live in brackish.