Fowlr tank requirements

My wife wants a puffer so I picked up a 85 g hex. What do I need now . I only have stand and tank. I'm not planning to put corals in . I don't know if it's even safe to have corals with the kind of fish she wants(cow fish,lion fish).any suggestions. Thanks

 

You need to get your sand, live rock, powerheads, skimmer ect..?

Puffers like to eat snails they help keep their teeth down and it's a good food source so make sure you get your snails

 

Cowfish will get too large, what are the dimensions of the tank, is it tall?

 

It's about 2 1/2 feet tall

 

Wat bout lights

 

While you could do a Boxfish I definitely wouldn't.
L.A.-This is a very difficult fish to keep in the aquarium setting by any other than the most experienced aquarist. It should have a minimum of a 50 gallon tank. Use caution if placing the Boxfish in a reef tank as they will often nibble at tubeworms. When stressed, the Boxfish releases a poisonous substance, called ostracitoxin, from its mucous glands which will kill other fish in the tank very quickly.

Also about the only kind of Puffer you could possibly add would be a Toby puffer which isn't bad because they are definitely one of my favorites.All the other Puffers get extremely large and a Hex is not ideal for them anyway. Good luck!!

 

Papuan Toby Puffer
Beautifull fish just keep in mind most Puffers are fairly aggresive.
For great info on lions and other cool fish PM Renee or Greg from Lionfish Lair(3reef sponsor).They are experts on the types of fish you are looking at.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/lionfish-lair/
Not sure Puffers and Lion's are compatible as Puffers are fin nippers but if anyone knows its them.
Lighting in a fish only tank will depend on the fish you plan on adding.

 

+1 with above suggestions. A hex tank unfortunately will really limit you as to what you can get. Even though 85g sounds like it is big enough......since it is hex it really does cut down on swim room. Most fish prefer horizontal swim room versus vertical.

With that said, there are a lot of other cool fish you can keep, just need to be smaller fish. I love the toby puffer also! You could look into a long horned cowfish, but these are tougher fish also and you need to get a small one. I would do a dwarf type of lion fish or even a scorpion fish versus a larger type of lion as they grow very big (no voliatans)



But before you do anything to answer your original question, with a 85g I would get at least 60 lbs of sand and 60-80 lbs of live rock. Plus some type of filtration. I would do a sump if possible with skimmer and that way you can put some of the rock in the sump.
If you are doing fish only then you can get a basic t5 light

I hope we didnt completely crush your wife dreams.......but there are still a lot of cool possibilities. Show your wife pics of dwarf lion and long horn cowfish

 

cowfish will need more room. I would look into leaf fish too.

 

Thanks for all info guys