Fig 8. Puffer

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Hello everyone! I'm dismantling my saltie tank at the moment and I'm considering converting it to a fig8 tank. But I have some questions before hand.

1. Do i need RO/DI water to keep puffers as opposed to regular tap water+conditioner+salt ?
2. Should I or should I not have live rock?

The tank's a 29gal biocube with a 150W MH light. It used to have a 20gal refugium that I have dismantled at the moment, but I can put it back on although I don't know whether it's be useful. It has argonite sand. m..that's pretty much it. So, what do you guys think?

 

[nmonks]

29 US gallons isn't a huge amount of water, and while adequate for one figure-8, you might be pushing your luck with three. Keeping two is risky because they're territorial and one will likely become a bully in a tank that size.

You don't need RO water unless your tap water has very high nitrate levels, 40 mg/l or more. Regular tap water with marine salt mix at around 6 grammes/litre should produce perfectly adequate conditions for this species.

Live rock is largely irrelevant here. You'll be running the tank at about SG 1.003 at 25 degrees C, and at that sort of salinity marine live rock will die. Yes, the anaerobic spaces will still support anaerobic bacteria. But you will probably find nitrate export easier through water changes and/or the use of fast-growing plants.

Cheers, Neale

 

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Thanks a lot for clearing that up Neale!

 

[nmonks]

Happy to help. I forgot to mention, 6 grammes of marine salt mix is about one level teaspoon, so this is a very easy salinity to maintain -- in metric, anyway!

Cheers, Neale

Thanks a lot for clearing that up Neale!