pinkfloydpuffer

I've begun my brackish plant project, to try to give my puffers some real plants instead of those cheesy plastic ones
It probably wouldn't be such a big deal except that I do not have a green thumb. I'm struggling to keep my plants alive in freshwater, lol.

Some background: my 20 gallon brackish tank came with a full hood with a 15W fixture. It's home to two little green spotted puffers, and the tank will be upgraded to at least a 55 later, and used for a single figure 8 puffer when that time comes.

So here's my progress so far:
I got a glass top to replace the hood.
I got a double fixture that supports two 20W bulbs at Home Depot.
I took out a bit of my hornwort that wasn't doing so hot from my betta tank, and put it in a bucket. I'm slowly adding in some water from the brackish tank to acclimate the plant to the salinity. I figure that since the plant was gonna die soon anyways, might as well use it as my test run.

My to do list:
Get some sheet aluminum to make "legs" for the light fixture to stand on.
Get more plants (quite excited about this one, although it won't be for a while)
Make a CO2 system. I've found quite a few ways to do this on this site and others. Does anyone have any experience on which is the best?

pinkfloydpuffer

Well, the hornwort is definitely dead now. But it was pretty much on it's deathbed when I started. I think I'm just going to try java moss and fern in the tank. I haven't killed those plants yet, lol!

pinkfloydpuffer

I got the fixture all set up today. I drilled on some pieces of spray-painted aluminum and plexiglass that was laying around. But now that I've plugged my lights in, I notice that they are very pink. They're 2700K, made for plants and aquariums... I'm not sure if I should exchange them for a different bulb, or use the reddish ones. I don't really like how it looks though. What do you all think?

Attached Images

	tank1.JPG (103.4 KB, 25 views)
	tank2.JPG (80.5 KB, 18 views)

pinkfloydpuffer

Well, I traded in the lights and got some new ones. These ones are more yellowy. Still not the most beautiful, but it's ok, whatever.
I also got myself 4 java fern plants. I've put them into a bucket of water with some fertilizer, and I'm going to slowly up the salinity over about a week or so. Hope it works!

pinkfloydpuffer

The plants are in the tank! I have 4 java ferns, each with from 4-8 leaves, and a clump of java moss. I'm considering adding anacharis to get some height for the background.

To acclimate, I put the plants in a bucket under my desk lamp and put in some fertilizer. I made up a few cups of very salty water, and slowly added it in over a few days.

pinkfloydpuffer

My tank is doing well. I have java fern, java moss, and anacharis in there. I'm also seeing some spot algae developing (the bright green stuff). I hope that's better than the ugly brown stuff...

pinkfloydpuffer

Here's what the tank looks like today...
It's a bit bare towards the top, but my puffs don't seem to mind yet.
The green algae is all over everything. I'm getting some Excel, hopefully that will help.

Attached Images

puffer tank.JPG (115.4 KB, 21 views)

Matt

I am so glad that so far this experiment is a success

If my old FW tank was big enough i would get a puffer. They are so cool