new tank, new fish, new-bie

[ultraflip]

Good Morning All!
First off, allow me to start by thanking you all for allowing me to be a part of your forum.

cliffs: new tank, new fish, new-bie

the story: I had recently aquired a fish tank from a friend of mine. I’ve taken it upon myself to make it into a salt water tank. This is what the tank currently has now:

40 gallon tank
10 lbs live rock
15 lbs argonite sand
25 lbs play sand
Canister Filter Rena Filstar xP2
300W heater
5 Chromis

40 gallon tank was left running for approximately 3 days with the 15lbs of argonite… ¼ water change was done… play sand was washed and added to the tank… 3 days went by… ¼ water change… live rocks were washed and added in… 1 week rolled by ¼ water change 5 chromis where added into the tank… it has now been 1 day since I’ve added in the chromis… can anyone chime in and assist me on what else I would need to get… what is needed for maintenance… etc? My goal for now is to add a few puffer fishes into the tank and whatever else I need to properly maintain this.

Regards
flip

[nccoastal]

powerhead?
couple of puffers, reasearch that one first many puffers very aggressive, get very big, very messy. also for puffers they need regular feeding of live snails, crabs, small clams to keep there fangs down.
i would get more live rock if i was you.
so you are going for fowlr correct.

[edikpok]

As was mentioned before, powerheads are important!
You don't really need to do water chnges so often....especially not in a new tank. You can do it once a month. In case of the puffers, you have to wait at least 6 weeks and then check it for amonia, nitrites and nitrates. At that time you should do a water cahnge. When your water has good parameters you can add the puffers. Now, be careful with them! First of all, puffers are aggressive! Second of all, you have a small tank for puffers. So I would recommend to have at most 1-2 puffers (1 in case of the bigger onse such as the dogface puffer).
Perhaps you will have to take out 3 of your damsels because they grow to be very aggressive and once again, your tank is not big enough to hold 5 damsels and a few puffers.
If you overstock your tank, you will have to get a skimmer too....

[ultraflip]

Powerhead will now be picked up later today after work :)
I have two on hold for this:
Penguin Power Head Model 660R - 170 gph ( for tanks from 29 to 75 gallons)
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444177 6808&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030138&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1150812641687&itemNo=0&Ntt=powerhead&In=Fish&previousText=powerhead&N=2023693


nccoastal: what do you mean by "going for fowlr"
edikpok: is it an absolute necessity to obtain a protein skimmer? (they're fairly expensive...)

as for the type of puffer... my local fish store currently has several porcupine puffer fish that are insanely awesome... which is why i'm so motivated to get them... haha

also... as for testing my water... is their any suggestion as to which kits to purchase? is there anything else i would need?

[Fishieness]

a protein skimmer is HIGHLY recomended.
and those powerheads will be fine.
and unfortunatly, like yourself, i wanted a proc puffer. It was actualy the fish that got me into SWF. however, i bought a 29, like yourself, and then found out they get way too big. They need at least a 90 gallon tank because they get huge.
The onlly puffers you can put in your tank are the small sharpnosed ones like a valentini.

[ultraflip]

full grown adult size isn't really an issue to me for the time being... a custom 200 gallon tank is in the works... the future of that tank is just directly related to the performance of this tank though... otherwise it'll be a straigh freshwater tank.

why are protein skimmers so important? would it be advisable to DIY or go out and just purchase one?

regards
flip

[nccoastal]

purchase one.

[edikpok]

protein skimmer is really recommended especially if you are going to overstock your tank. Lots of dissolved organic compound in the tank will cause high nitrates and lower pH which will stress the fish. Purchased one is better I think. You can always try to get a used as I did- I got the prizm one for 40 candadian bucks. fully working...

as for the puffer, I would get one if you really want one.