Help! I'm New And Have Questions!

[McCahill83]

ey I know I'm going to be asking a lot of questions, that I should be able to find the answers to on my own, but with all the (sometimes different) information out there, I just don't know what I should listen to, what I need, etc. So, I figured I'd ask the questions and see if an experienced hobbyist or two could point me in the right direction, or make some suggestions.

I recently converted my aquarium from a 15 gallon, to a 29 gallon. I don't plan on doing anything too advanced with it. I plan on keeping it a Fish Only and Live rock aquarium. Right now I have a Valentini Puffer, a Clownfish, and a Three Stripe Damsel. I haven't had any problems with these fish, and everything I've read says they are compatible. Are they? Also is a 29 gallon aquarium large enough for these guys at full size and if so, could I add more fish? The Aquarium is the Valentini's aquarium, so I'd be looking for tank mates for him. Damsels are from what I understand good starter fish. They are cheap as well. Would it be possible to put 1 or 2 more Damsels in with the Valentini? Perhaps a Domino or a Velvet Damsel? My Girlfriend loves the Royal Gramma fish. Would that be compatible with the Puffer as well?

My area of concern is the one that I really can't find an answer for as everything I read tends to counter act what I read in the place before. That is Lighting and Live Rock. Since it's a fish only aquarium do I need to upgrade to expensive high powered lighting? Right now I have a 20W Power-Glo Bulb on the Aquarium. It seemed to be doing well in the Smaller aquarium as we experienced some pretty good Coralline Algae growth. I added about 7 pounds of Base Rock to the Aquarium when we upgraded. I think the combined total is around 21 pounds of rock right now(14.5 live and 6.5 base. ) I think I've read that a good amount is about 1.5 lbs of rock for every gallon of water. If I add about 15 more pounds of base and 10 more pounds of Live Rock, should that be sufficient? Also will the coralline alge grow on the base rock eventually, or would it be best to just buy live rock only and not worry about saving the money on the base rock? Also I've been trying to research, but have found nothing about Caribsea Purple Up. Does it really work, and is it worth getting a bottle to kick start some of the algae growth in my aquarium?

Last but not least is Filtration. Right now I have a 200 gallon per hour hang on filter that I was using for our Goldfish, before we converted over to the Saltwater Aquarium. I know that probably is not sufficient enough. What type of filtration should I look into for my set up? Is a Protein Skimmer good enough for a Fish Onlly Aquarium? If so, which skimmer would be best for me? Also, is there anyway to hide the Heater, Filter, Etc. so that it's not visible hanging in the back of the aquarium?

I'm sorry I asked a lot of questions, but I want to make sure my Puffer is healthy. I love that little guy, and don't want to lose him due to poor set up. Thanks a million for any help anybody can give me. Also if you have any suggestions on anything I didn't mention, go ahead with them, I'm willing to listen and learn!

Here's a few pics

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[Musho3210]

well posting this here isnt going to help you, your in the freshwater section

But i can answer a few things. The light is fine if it is a FO set up. Skifletch (a experianced saltwater member) said that the inventor of purple up should get shot so i guess its no good. Do you have any powerheads?

Protein skimmers are great, protein skimmers are more recommended than regular HOB filters etc. Take everything out of that HOB filter, put some phosphate remover in the HOB filter, and buy a tunze nano 9002 skimmer or another high quality skimmer. You may want a hydor koralia 2 if you dont have any powerheads but i dont know how much flow puffers want.

 

[fishywoo]

I dont know if this is any help, or whether you should listen to me, i had a saltwater tank which didnt survive but my domino damsel was extremely territorial in a 150L tank, im not sure what that is in gallons and he would not let any other fish near his rock, when I tried moving the rocks around, he got inside of it (as it had a gap in it) and he would still be holding his territory even when I removed the rock from the water by wedging himself in it! The re-arranging when I finally got him out didnt seem to make a difference as far as "his rock" went. It may be that it ust had some sort of fish social issues or something but he was pretty mean. 2 clown fish seem to be amusing, but as far as the size of the tank compared to the amount of fish im not sure..