HELP? Questions starting 10 Gal. Brackish Tank for a F8 Puffer/Bacteria??

[FishCrazed]

So the cycling (10Gal.) process is finished and I've decided to go low end brackish.
I'll be soon getting a F8 Puffer and it will be a species tank for just the one puffer. In about a year I'll be getting a 30G, 3 Bubblebee Gobies for the F8.
I've done my fair amount of research on the F8 Puffer, but it's hard to get a straight answer.

10 Gal. (currently freshwater)
w/ Aqueon 10 and heater... Temp. @ 80 degrees
PH= 7.8 (hoping after adding the Marine Salt it will raise it to 8.0-8.2ish)

Uncertainties/Questions:

1) Should I start a F8 puffer (approx. 1") in freshwater or brackish, then slowly raising the SG???
(My LFS keeps them in the Sm. Cichlids tank. They won't tell me the tanks current SG or PH and they use
Aquarium Salt in that tank.)

2) Will a Aqueon 10 Filter (10gal.) be enough water flow for the F8 or should I get a sm. power head too?

3) I have two Tuffer Rock in the tank, which both have green (algae) growing on them.
But, one of the two rocks has this dark brown stuff growing on it that I'm unaware of!????
Can someone tell me what this stuff is and if it will harm the F8 I any way?

 

[f8fan]

It will depend on what the LFS keeps the puffers in as far as how to start them out. If what you are saying is that the store keeps them in FW with aquarium salt (NOT the same at ALL as Marine Salt) then start them out there, and slowly raise the salinity .02 per couple of weeks by adding MARINE SALT (I use Instant Ocean) It's important to premix the salt before adding it to the tank, use a bucket of water, treat it for chlorine and add the salt to that, mix mix mix and measure it with a hydrometer. Otherwise you can salt-burn your new puffer. By doing this, you are letting your established FW bacteria convert itself to SW/Brackish bacteria...they are different.

You can't filter enough for the puffers. They are messy and create a lot of ammonia not only from their poops but because of what they eat. It's nearly impossible to clean up all their leftovers and the food particles will cause a lot of extra filtration needs. A power head is a good idea, as it will mimic their natural environment (fast flowing rivers).

I'm not sure what those rocks are, I haven't ever heard of them. To be on the safe side, I would use fake decorations in the tank, that way they wont affect the water column at all. I do have a few lava rocks in my brackish tank and they don't bother my puffers.

Your temp is right on! They need to be in the 78 - 82 degree range.

Here's a link to a good article on brackish tanks, Starting a Brackish Aquarium, what you need and what you can keep. and you can PM me ANYTIME with questions, I would be more than happy to help you out! Also check out the stickies here in the brackish section for general info on keeping brackish tanks.