Need help with starting a marine aquarium!?

Question

I want to buy a Porcupine Puffer fish, I went to the pet store and the guy told me I had to wait a good month before I could even put the fish in after preparing the tank, does anyone have any suggestions? Is there a way around the month wait?

Answer 1

Actually, no and you may need wait even longer than one month.

Puffers of all types are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrites in the tank. And you'll get these whenever you start up a new tank. When ever a fish eats, the wastes they produce contain ammonia (which is toxic to fish). In an aquarium, ammonia is used as an energy source by cretain types of bacteria. By using the ammonia, they convert it to nitrite (also toxic) and a second type of bacteria converts the nitrite to nitrate, which fish can handle in moderate amounts. Until you get an adequate supply of bacteria, the ammonia and nitrite in the tank can kill your puffer. This process (called cycling) can take up to two months.

There are a couple of things you can do. There are some bacterial additives (some of questionable efficiency, the refrigerated varieties seem to be the best) that you can add to "jumpstart" the population. If you know someone else who has a saltwater tank that's free of disease and algae problems, get some of the media (floss, foam filter pads or bioballs) to "seed" your tank. You can also get live rock (it's the bacteria on the rock that's alive) or rubble from tanks from a store that sells saltwater fish, but go for less expensive pieces. All the nice coraline algae and pretty organisms you see on the rock will be eaten by a puffer. Don't use the live sand - I've seen red slime bacteria in the bags and if it's been on the shelf a while, the bacteria you want aren't going to be very alive.

You can also add a piece of uncooked shrimp to the tank. This adds ammonia as it decomposes and the bacteria from the shrimp and tank materials will use this as a source of energy to multiply. You can also add pure ammonia (without fragrances, or cleaners added). Until you know the tank is fully cycled, you have to feed the bacteria. Once you add a fish, their wastes will feed it.

Raising the temperature of the water will speed the process a little - bacteria are more active so they'll multiply faster. Once you get the fish, you should cut the temperature back to around 76-84o.

Get a test kit to monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels while the tank is cycling. Don't add a puffer until the ammonia and nitrites are zero and nitrate is the only thing detectable for at least a week.

Answer 2

Hate to go against copperhead who is extremely knowlegable in this subject buuuuttttt there is a way though you might lose the fish even doing this method. Theres a product that just recently came out called bio spira its packaged bacteria and basicly allows you to start of fwith your prized fish. It didnt work perfectly for me but im pretty sure its a combination of using way to much amquel as well as not having a biowheel or wet dry (my nitrite spike leveled off after i added a biowheel filter)(oh yeah i had a canister didnt start a tank filterless). Anyway I started my tank impatiently got way to engrossed and added a ton of fish all at once. However of those only one fish died from the cycling(a princess parrot which isnt a hardy fish and I didnt really kill it the fish store that offered to hold it for me while my tank cycled swapped it for a dead one but it would of died had i kept it). A shark, lionfish, 2 eels, a foxface, and a tang lived. Now 1-2 months later anenomes are doing awesome as well as starfish. Normally biospira prevents all spikes and completes the initial tank cycle in one week. All your supposed to do is add the bio spira right after releasing the fish into the water. So dont let the time discourage you just try and restrain the urge to fill this tank with all those awesome preds. Oh yeah the puffers cool but hes gonna limit your tank on the cleaning crew... well actually no cleaning crews doable with him. He hurt my serpent star so we gave him away :(. Hope this helps ya and keep in mind I had a bad experience with this product but many many others had good ones. I would suggest starting with R/O water dodge the purifiers in a bottle and get a wet dry or biowheel filter. (spray the biospira on the wheels well a little bit of it i would think that would help) Email me any questions.

Answer 3

No, there's no way around the month's wait. You could reduce it to 3 weeks, but that's about it. Starting a saltwater aquarium takes time. The Nitrogen Cycle is the single most important thing in your tank and you need to do a lot of research on that topic.

There are different ways to cycle your tank as you will find out when you do your research.

I don't know what else to say. If you want fast, get some stupid goldfish. If you want awesome, take your time and do it right!