Novice Marine Setup

[sarahjane85]

After a lot of perseverance I've finally mastered the art of brackish and keep a group of Spotted Puffers rather successfully, they're very happy and healthy, so now I'm looking to raise the bar and go marine. I'm getting between a 300-500Ltr (80-100 gallon) (apparently the bigger the better) aquarium and ultimately I'd like to have a porcupine puffer in there. I'm not interested in keeping corals etc..

Considering the money involved in the setup I'm in need of some experienced advice so I don't make a royal mess up!
I'm a complete novice when it comes to marine, so I was looking for information on the following:


1. A list of hardy compatible fish to be house with a porcupine puffer.

2. The best (stable) way of cycling a marine tank.

3. Why RO water? and what is it exactly?

4. I'm aware that I need a hydrometer, filtration, heater, pump, sump?, powerhead? substrate, rock, marine salt, test kit, protein skimmer... have i missed anything?


Any other useful advice/tips would be much appreciated!

 

[rabbut]

Porcupine Puffers get to about a foot I think, so they are going to require a footprint of at least 4ft by 2ft, with more being better... Just double check you have the space you need to fit a tank with that footprint in your desired spot. Also, consult a structural engineer. Seriously, I was going to put in a tank of the same size, but I was advise by three separate people that should know what they are talking about, that the spot I was going to put the system in would not take the weight without taking up the floor, installing a suitable concrete base, and than bricking up to the joists before putting the floor back in to support the weight. Bolting to the wall was not an option either... For this reason, I've had to reduce the size of my system to take into account the weights involved...

So, before we get into the hardware you need, lets first finalise your stocking list. Puffers don't really like too much flow, so we'll need to take that into account with your hardware, and they are messy, so filtration may need "beefing up" a bit more than your usual FOWLR set-up

What fish have you seen that you like?

Once we know what you intend to keep, we can spec your system around the needs of the stock you want

All the best
Rabbut

 

[sarahjane85]

I was looking at Coral Beautys to begin with , maybe a Mandarin dragonet eventually (im aware they're hard to feed), Fuzzy lionfish, Regal angelfish, Scarlet Hawk, wrasse, watchman goby, regal/yellow tang, are some others I fancied

 

[rabbut]

Ok, I'm not familiar with some of those, but I'll advise on the ones I do know

Coral Beauties aren't badly behaved, stay fairly small, but can nip corals.

Manderins are best in an established set-up with Live Rock. 100g each is their minimum tank size if you aren't going supplement their diet with pods from somewhere else, like a culture. Many would consider them near impossible to keep without live rock that's mature and hence gives a good supply of Copepods

Fuzzy Dwarf lions are messy predators. They pack a punch if the sting you, and have to be watched with smaller or similar sized tank mates (I wouldn't recommend butting one with a Manderin) as they can potentially swallow any fish up to the same size as themselves. They are a smaller lion though, so many fish will mix with them fine

Scarlet Hawks you can think of like Lions. A pred, not too messy, less of a risk to a manderin (though still not safe IMO) and have fascinating behaviours

Which particular Wrasses? There are many that vary a lot in temperament, size, behaviours e.t.c

Watchman Gobies are well behaved, not too messy and would with most things

Regal and Yellow tanks would need the same minimum sized tank as your Puffer of choice, not due to size, but their activity. They are a messy herbivore, that require a good food supply (algae available most of the time basically) to do well and remain disease resistant. Both are very prone to Whitespot, though the regal more so than the Yellow tang

In that set-up, with most of the fish being large messy preds, I'd be looking at a maximum of another two preds/tags in there, as they all put quite a load on the system. A Manderin probably wouldn't do well in a set-up with the other types of fish you are looking at however...

All the best
Rabbut