The Puffer Forum

My GSPs are big eater. As a result the tank get dirty very fast. My tank is filled with white marine sand. Everytime those little fellas finish feasting, their feces discharge filled the tank and it becomes so obvious in white sand.

I can't help but to scoop those dirty dung out but it's too troublesome and I have to do it like alternate days. Are those dung harmful? My tank is cycled. No Ammonia and Nitrite. Any suggestions?

Increased current and improved filtration will move more of the poop to the mechanical filters, but this only removes the issue from the visible to the unseen, where it remains an issues unless to you rinse your mechanical filtration very frequently (daily or alternate days is optimum, but I do not do that myself). For large puffers, I spot-vacuum either daily or alternate days to get the poop out before it breaks down and affects the water quality.

Sand IMHO & IME is not the best substrate for puffers other than those few which bury themselves as part of their feding strategy. It is too high maintenance for me.

Try crushed coral and or argonite as a substrate. From what I hear about it the stuff is pretty awsome

IMHO I would probably add a small duetto or a small fluval close to the substrate (as long as the substrate will not go through the filter [like sand]) so that it pushes the waste materials and it will be picked up in that filter or your main filter.