# GSP Brackish in progress



## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

So about a month ago I started digging the idea of a brackish setup to keep a Green Spotted Puffer. So I immediately started to look around my house for a spot to place another tank and found an old TV stand that measured 30 inches from side to side. So onto BCA I went and posted a classified ad for a 30" tank. To my rescue, John shot me a PM and said he had a spare tank that size and I could take it for $20. So I drove out to Burnaby to meet him for the first time, as well as pick up this tank. Well I arrived and let me tell you something, it was a piece. Well sort of. 
The previous owner must have had a leak so he decided to re silicone the inside seam but didn't do a good job. not even a mediocre job. The silicone was hard, tinted yellow and speak up to 3 inches up the side glass. John game me the tank for free.

Now I have done a few things to it. I started by taking off all of the inside seam that the first owner put on, as well as the manufacturer seam (no, he did not remove the old stuff when he "fixed it"). So scraping it took some time since I was constantly busy. But 4 weeks later it was time for me to crank out some GEI and redo the inside seam. 
So I first painted the trim with a few coats of Flat black paint and it turned out ok. There was old silicone on the plastic and some chips but i decided my effort was better put elsewhere. 







I had one good side so that was used for the top/front of the tank. Once that was done I moved onto painting the backside of the tank with the same paint. I covered the whole thing with news paper and took it outside for a can of spray paint.







80% of a can later i was happy with the thickness of paint and i decided I was done!








So I brought the tank inside and let the paint settle for a few days longer. Now I have trim and background painted the same colour!
I currently have a single 1.5" GSP in a 10g holding tank. He's been there for about 6 weeks while this tank has been getting set up. Prior to this afternoon I was ready for the brackish setup (salt and refractometer) and today I stopped by Roger's aquatics and grabbed everything else I needed. 
-a very slick Coralife dual t5 fixture and a AC50. I also plan on turning off the AC for a few hours while I sleep (this tank is in my bedroom) so I got a powerhead to keep water circulation during these hours. Also have a 100w jager heater. All these things were bought new from either Rogers or IPU, and it was the very first time I didn't go used!

So here is the tank sitting on the old TV stand as of 40 seconds ago. _sorry about the glare, it's taken with a cell phone, and this was the best i could get it_








So that's all for today. The tank really looks great with the matching BC and trim. The tube for the AC50 will be painted black soon as well but I'll need to pick up some Krylon later this week. The slick, low riding, light fixture really looks great too and i'm very impressed with the quality of it. It came with a 6,500K and a colormax. for now it looks perfect so I'll leave it the way it is

Tuesday (closed on mondays) I'll stop by Langley Bywater to pick up some PFS to add to this tank. I'll give it a shot and see how I like it. If I decide I hate it, i still have 50lbs of black 3M sand from the group buy that April threw together.

I'll update when the tank changes.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Great job thus far Derek! Looks like a brand new tank now! Look forward to seeing the progress


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

Oh! I forgot to mention the tank is about 30gallons. Measures 30"x12x15 (LxWxH)


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