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So, after much debate and consideration, I decided that the best use for my small (80l) tank would to be keep 4 Figure of 8 Puffers, Tetraodon Biocellatus. After researching T. Biocellatus I soon discovered that these fish can be kept in most types of water - Fresh, Brackish and Marine - however they will thrive in a Brackish setup so going Brackish only seemed fair. The first step, however, would be to clean the tank out and get rid of all the old horribly yellow substrate.

It’s been a while since the tank had been cleaned, or maintained in any way - it didn’t seem to have bothered the one remaining plant though!

Finally, after many hours work with a cyphon, including nearly drowning myself about five times I finally had the tank empty, and cleaned. And, after days of soaking my new River Sand Substrate, plus hours of rinsing it - I decided it was never going to get fully clean and I would let my filter do the rest of the cleaning once the tank was setup

Last job of the night; putting my substrate into the tank, filling the tank up and dechlorinating the water… Next I would wait for the water to heat to approx 25DegC and the filter get to work on the somewhat unclean water.

Once the water was clear and warmed, I headed back to my LFS to get:

• Some Drift Wood
• Some Rocks
• Some Java Moss
• An Air Pump
• 2 Air Stones

Disaster struck; not enough Silicone Hosing for the Air Stones, and not enough Rocks for it to look any good.. I’d have to go back to the shop tomorrow…

And there we have it, I’m pretty happy with the setup I’ve got now - gonna let it sit for a while, probably adding the Puffers on Saturday, then giving the fish about a week to acclimatise to their new home, before slowly adding the Red Sea Marine Salt to the tank upto a concentration of approx. 3g/l… Stay tuned for Part II!