Filtration for large marine puffers

[las]

What is the healthiest way to filter a tank for an arothron puffer( mappa)? Is the large skimmer, LR and Refugiu
way the best? Would it be better to go the wet dry route? I've read articles suggesting a wet dry is the only way to ensure strong enough filtration. I honestly don't know which route is optimum.

[Pufferpunk]

Wet/dry is old school--nitrate factories. Stick with a HUGE sump, HUGE tank, HUGE skimmer, lots of LR & great flow. I'd go with multiple Seaswirls.

[las]

I read in Anthony calfo's book that he would do 50% weekly water changes in his tanks and he believes that this gave him the best results he ever had... Do u think this is overkill? Some places I've read that this will mess up your biological landscape. Again, constant opposite opinions in this hobby!!!! Btw- he had all his water perameters exactly the same with these huge water changes.

It seems like this WC schedule would make a lot of sense in a large marine puffer situation. Doesn't it?

[RTR]

+1 to Pufferpunk's earlier comments.

To expand on her comments a bit, certainly she is correct in her suggestion that serial (weekly) 505 water partials used to be the best that we could do, A lot of folks did so with decent results. But we have since found out that the long term nitrate levels make the tank less than desirable. Every 3-4 months you really need to do a week of 50% partials every other day to further reduce the nitrates, or to run massive algae bed filters for better nitrate reduction. The advent of Live Rock in marine system is far superior to that old-fashioned operating system. The initial costs are significantly higher for FO w/LR + skimmer (and better still with macroalgae refugia), but long-term water quality is far better. Serial 50% weekly partials long term still have non-trivial and undesirable nitrate levels. Large-system 505 partials are not only a massive chore, they are costly and do not ever approach wild water purity on their own, The more modern system is initially more expensive, but give far better water quality at much lower operating costs. For long-lived fish, it is operating cost that add up.

HTH

[las]

Thanks for the responses. That helps very much. So the most desirable water change schddule would be what? 25% weekly with the tank setup that puffer punk suggested?

[las]

Also, do u guys use carbon or bio pellets?

[Pufferpunk]

I use Vitamin C for carbon dosing, with GREAT success! See the thread here on this.

[Pufferpunk]

I use Vitamin C for carbon dosing, with GREAT success! See the thread here on this.

[Pufferpunk]

I use Vitamin C for carbon dosing, with GREAT success! See the thread here on this.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13501

[las]

Thanks PP ill look into that.

Do u guys believe that oxygen level plays a big role in these fish not attaining the same size as they do in the wild? I'm starting to believe this a big factor. Obviously there are others. I think I want to do everything I can to maximize oxygen levels. So, I think a large vegetable filter is what I'm doing.

Having said that, would a remote DSB in the vegetable filter tank contradict that goal? Don't they take up a lot of oxygen?

[Pufferpunk]

No, I think it's the size of the environment. I highly doubt many folks ever properly house monster puffers like this. There is no reason a any fish in captivity not to meet or exceed their wild size.

[Pufferpunk]

No, I think it's the size of the environment. I highly doubt many folks ever properly house monster puffers like this. There is no reason a any fish in captivity not to meet or exceed their wild size.

[las]

so what is it about tank size that stunts a puffers growth? Excercize? Depression? if you put a puffer in a 500 gallon system with great water it still doesnt approach wild sizes. So what part is missing?

[las]

Having said that, would a remote DSB in the vegetable filter tank contradict that goal? Don't they take up a lot of oxygen?

[Pufferpunk]

Actually eats up nitrate. Good idea. I won't run any SW tank without using some sort of carbon dosing though... Vc has always worked well for me.