Dwarf Puffer tank build thread

[Hog]

So what happened next?

 

[rocioamsterdam]

Yes yes what's the update??
I'm curious. I ended up picking rocks and treating them following your advice. I also added 3 corys, those small ones that don't grow more than 1" (around 3 cm, 3.5 cm to be precise), and 1 small pleco (bristlenose, now it is smaller than the corys but it will grow to 3", so I will move the pleco out ina couple months). The puffers are getting along so well I don't believe it , it's 2 of them and they have grown from tiny peas to fat balls (well not fat, roundish).

I know that DPs are difficult to combine with other fish, myself, I had to separate them for this reason 2 months ago or so. However they don't go for fast fish so I am thinking of adding rhinogobius (I have 5 in the bigger tank and they are true little dragons, have quite a character too). Does anyone know whether this is a good combination?
Deep 7, are you going to combine the DPs with anything else? I probably asked you this already, knowing me...

Ah and I truly recommend setting up your own brine shrimp hatchery and let the shrimp grow for a couple weeks. Puffers love them and it saves you trips to the LFS to get live food (plus they are fun to hatch, and so easy!!)

 

[rocioamsterdam]

Check out this movie (I hope it works), for all DP lovers it's a good laugh!


YouTube - Dwarf puffer & Rhinogobius wui

 

[Deep Seven]

An update, I kind of ran short on funds. Christmas, minor car accident, etc. etc. I have my QT set up with filter, heater and fake plants. When I have a finish date for my main tank I'll start cycling the QT for the first inhabitants, and seed some filter media for my main tank.

I'm not going to set up this tank without power back-up that will last at least 12hrs. Also after some research I also realized that I want to use "canned" CO² instead of sugar which is more expensive, although as I type this I realize I can do that after the tank is set up and thriving.

Basically right now I'm keeping my eye open for a good deal on a used power back-up system (generator or UPS) while saving the money to buy it new if I have to.

Oh, and I'm still having trouble actually finding someone who sells or breeds dwarf puffers, lol.

Deep 7, are you going to combine the DPs with anything else?

My plan is dwarf puffers and oto cats. I'm going to try ghost shrimp as well, but I have a feeling, based on the diet I have planned, that the shrimp will end up as food.

Oto cats (95%) and ghost shrimp (50%) are the two creatures considered the easiest to keep with DPs. That being said, most people keep their DPs in fairly small tanks reducing the chance they will get along with other fish. I'm trying to create a large and complicated aquascape, and I'll have the secondary tank and QT to move fish if they don't get along, so I may experiment a little with adding tankmates.

 

[rocioamsterdam]

I am sure that you will succeed, especially with the complicated environment you have in mind. This is the main reason I guess for my DPs to get along and not bother the corydoras, plenty of hiding places and many many plants. I am sorry to hear about the small accident, hope it's all good.

Ok, I'll be following with interest when you start adding the little guys! Such a shame they are not easily available for you. But surely you'll find them. I wish I could send them to you from here but I am afraid very often fish die during/after the trip, out of stress or temp changes or whatever.

Good luck with everything!!!

 

[Deep Seven]

Update in my progress.

I'm reworking my plans a bit. I'm going to set up the 15g tank as the puffer tank for now. I'll most likely be getting a new tank soon, (guy I work with wants to give me a tank sitting in his garage, but needs his girlfriends permission first, it's her tank), if I do it's coming with a stand and so I'll probably use that tank instead of my 15g. That will give me more time to make the 29g tank "perfect", and also give me more time to mature the tanks as needed.

I've started my breeder tank. It's a 12g, 16"l x 13"d x 12"h. Its for blackworms and snails so I've used a food grade plastic tote. I've got it set-up with a heater and a DIY bubble driven filter. I'm buying a light fixture for it this weekend, and possibly some plants.

This weekend I also plan on buying substrate, and if needed a filter and heater, for the temporary puffer tank. I'll set it up and start cycling. May buy a light fixture for it if I know what I need and see what I want.

I have two goals to work on.
1) Sorting out a good UPS, preferably upgradable so I can add to it later when I need more power. Will need to power 8g QT, 12g breeder tank, and 15g or maybe bigger puffer tank to start. I figure about 300-400w for the heaters and 100-200w for the pumps.
2) Still haven't seen any puffers in my area for sale . I have to check Vancouver or Victoria, both of them 8+ hour drives.


This gets me going quite a bit cheaper then my original plans, and will help motivate and inspire me to build the tank of my dreams.

Update on the "minor car accident". I destroyed two rims and tires instead of the one I had originally thought. When I blew out the front tire hitting the pothole I didn't realize the back tire hit with enough force to bend that rim too. Not sure if it's just the rim, but it looks like the back tire is a goner too. At >225$ for used stock rims, I'm buying four new aftermarket rims, and I'll try and sell the two good ones and hopefully break even. I think the aftermarket rims look better anyways. I'll buy two new tires, put them on the front, and go wider on that corner from now on.

And life goes on

 

[Greenmaster]

Glad to hear your back on your feet. If you need any help... (in a non monetary sense) Just ask... I'll see what I can do.

 

[Deep Seven]

Sooo, the guy I work with that was offering me his girlfriends tank was reprimanded for the action, and asked why he hasn't set it up for her yet. So, I'm going with the 15g, which, upon examination has the following interior dimensions: 23.5" long by 11.75" wide by 14.5" high. This turns out to be 66 liters, or 17.3g (US). Bonus!

AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

Thats my planned stocking list. As noted, the ghost shrimp may end up as food.

I'll get a stand, filter, heater, substrate, and probably a new light. If I can't find a light I like I'll go the DIY route while cycling. I'll also start pricing out a DIY UPS so my fish don't die the next big storm or when some drunk hits a power pole.

I'll also get some plants and probably toss them in the breeder tank while cycling. Still need to find a source for live blackworms and dwarf puffers.

 

[Greenmaster]

You may get your tank going before me... If you do I'll find out where you live and take a look

 

[Fishies86]

Following along. Very interesting

 

[Deep Seven]

Update!!! Puffer sighting and new lights!

I'm >95% certain I've located dwarf puffers at a "local" pet store . When I get a chance I plan to go back and take a bunch more pictures with a real camera so I can get a positive ID. Here's the album of my cellphone pics Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Deep Seven's Album: cellphone puffer pics

I've also purchased a light for my breeder tank and my Puffer Tank. The breeder tank light is a polished aluminum utility light rated for 150w incandecent or equivilant cfl. I have a 13w 6400k bulb in there for now, will buy a better bulb if needed. (I can go up to 30-35w CFL)

For the Puffer Tank, I have a Coralife Aqualight 24" HO T5 dual lamp. For now I'm going to leave the actinic bulb and replace the 10,000k bulb with a 6700k. I removed the old light hood, and the Aqualight installed directly into the old light slot. No need for modification or new cover.

Pics!!!

Right now I'm trying to find a dealer, online or local, that I can buy the Eco-complete Red Planted substrate from and wont get charged 150$ to ship to Canada. When I do I'll probably try to buy my heater and filter from them to swing a deal.

 

[Deep Seven]

I've also compiled a plant list:

• Cryptocoryne Wendtii
• Cryptocoryne Willisii
• Hygrophila Difformis - Water Wysteria
• Limnophila Sessiliflora - Dwarf Ambulia
• Rotala Rotundifolia - Dwarf Rotala
• Vesicularia Dubyana - Java Moss

Also once I have things a bit stabalized I want to try:

• Rotala Macrandra - Giant Red Rotala

 

[AggieMel]

Tagging along

 

[Deep Seven]

"Warning! This thread is 101 days old. Are you sure you want to post?" I've been discouraged trying to find a supplier for the substrate I wanted and the live blackworms. On the substrate angle I've finally decided to change plans and use a layered substrate for this tank. I'm going to use laterite and vermiculite as a base and pool filter sand as a topper. I purchased the PFS for under 5$ + 15$ worth of laterite + 2$ for the vermiculite = 22$ instead of the 100+$ it was gonna cost for the eco-complete.

I've purchased the aquaclear 50 filter and a 100w heater. I'll buy the laterite and vermiculite and pick everything up sometime this week and hopefully have the tank set-up and cycling this weekend. Oh snap! I still need that darn stand. Maybe I'll go garage sale-ing on saturday and try to find some 40 year old dresser built like a brick wall for cheap.

Seems like it's been forever but I should finally have my tank running next week. I start planning how I want the plants and aquascape to look in the end and get ready to buy some plants and ghost shrimp and snails when the cycle is done. Still trying to find live blackworms for the breeder tank.

 

[Deep Seven]

Got an aquarium "stand" from the second hand store. I stood on it (when noone was looking) and jumped up and down. Seems pretty solid. I put it outside with the aquarium on it and filled it with water. I'm leaving it outside overnight as a last leak test of the tank and a stress test of the stand.

If everything still looks good tomorrow I plan on building the substrate, filling the tank and starting the fishless cycle. (Inside of course). I can't wait, it's been too long in the planning stages.

 

[Deep Seven]

I'm not sure if anyones still following, lol.

I finally figured out what mineralized soil is a few days ago. I had been asking at every garden and plant store and getting blank stares and questions instead of answers. I already have the laterite so I'm planning on a mineralized soil with laterite recipe for my substrate. Which in the end means another delay, grrrr.

I found some soil I thought looked great, a pile of "topsoil" my landlord had dumped 5 years ago and hardly used. I screened a bunch of it and thought it looked perfect. I did a soil analysis, or at least attempted to do one. I got a sand layer, but instead of a silt layer with clay and then water all I got on top of the sand was sludge. Pretty much 40% colloidal clay and 60% sand according to the analysis guide I was using. (they recommend zero % colloidal clay)

The terrain around here is not gonna have all that colloidal clay, but I don't think it's not gonna be much better overall. On tuesday or wednesday I'll try to get across the island and sample my families farm which I think will be pretty good since we had a well and we had no issues with the well water, and if thats not good enough I'll try several other places until I find a good dirt.

As soon as I get a good sample I'll collect a bunch and start mineralizing it. Hopefully have that done and water in the tank in about 2 weeks. Guess I'll use the extra time to work on aquascaping plans.

 

[Fishies86]

I'm still following I'm very interested

 

[jetajockey]

I'm not sure if anyones still following, lol.

I finally figured out what mineralized soil is a few days ago. I had been asking at every garden and plant store and getting blank stares and questions instead of answers. I already have the laterite so I'm planning on a mineralized soil with laterite recipe for my substrate. Which in the end means another delay, grrrr.

I found some soil I thought looked great, a pile of "topsoil" my landlord had dumped 5 years ago and hardly used. I screened a bunch of it and thought it looked perfect. I did a soil analysis, or at least attempted to do one. I got a sand layer, but instead of a silt layer with clay and then water all I got on top of the sand was sludge. Pretty much 40% colloidal clay and 60% sand according to the analysis guide I was using. (they recommend zero % colloidal clay)

The terrain around here is not gonna have all that colloidal clay, but I don't think it's not gonna be much better overall. On tuesday or wednesday I'll try to get across the island and sample my families farm which I think will be pretty good since we had a well and we had no issues with the well water, and if thats not good enough I'll try several other places until I find a good dirt.

As soon as I get a good sample I'll collect a bunch and start mineralizing it. Hopefully have that done and water in the tank in about 2 weeks. Guess I'll use the extra time to work on aquascaping plans.

I use the cheap topsoil from the big box hardware store.
Are you planning to cap the laterite and soil with something? Are you using laterite in place of the clay the recipe calls for?

 

[Deep Seven]

I use the cheap topsoil from the big box hardware store.

My local hardware store only has peat moss and compost soils for sale. I'm about 200 miles from anything like a "big box hardware store". I figure if I'm driving that far I might as well check out the farm I grew up on. If that soil works it will have extra meaning for me, I can be a sentimental sap sometimes.

Are you planning to cap the laterite and soil with something? Are you using laterite in place of the clay the recipe calls for?

I have pool filter sand that I bought 50lbs for 5$. I'm planning to cap it with the sand. Some of the recipes I was looking at suggested substituting clay for laterite as an option. The recipe I'm planning on using will be very similar to one of those.

 

[Deep Seven]

I got dirt! Only problem is it's a bit dirty, so I'm working on cleaning it right now. It appears to have colloidal clay or similar substance, but it's real good farming dirt that was organic and laying fallow for a while. I plan on a somewhat complicated recipe, so I'm not too worried about overworking the soil.

After I screened the soil I put it in a large rubbermaid tote, added water and agitated it really well with a whisk. I then filled the container with water and let it sit for about 40 hours. This morning the water was still pretty cloudy so I gently placed a garden hose in the container at the surface aimed sideways so as not to disturb whatever has settled on the bottom and turned the tap on low flow letting the water overflow out of the container.

I'm thinking this should flush most of the colloidal particulate out of my soil. Once the water runs clear I plan to repeat entire process a few times, (minus the screening), until the water looks good after the agitate and soak phase, then I'll move on to the mineralizing process.