Is my filter sufficient?

[tranceFusion]

I have a Whisper Power Filter 30 on a 30 gallon tank. I want to have 4 Bumblebee gobies and a Figure 8 puffer (they don't get lonely, right? or is a pair better?). Do the Whisper filter's provide sufficient bio filtration?

[Myaj]

The Whisper 30 moves 150gph.

With puffers, we generally recommend a filter (or combo of filters) that turns over the water in your tank 10x per hour.. So for a 30 gallon tank, you'd want 300gph of filtration.

So the 30 would be about right for a 15 gallon tank, going by that guideline. Two of them would be about perfect, although I don't like the filter setup myself (cartridges are a waste of money IMO) and prefer AquaClears.

Usually filters are not really good enough for what the manufacturer recommends. Also keep in mind, they are rating it with no media, and no "head", which means there's no resistance at all for the filter to work against. Once you add in the media and the filter is straining to raise water up a few inches, it drastically lowers the gph.

[dumpythepuffer]

id agree. ive only had awesome resaults with aquaclear. the others are crap (my opinion) over filtering your tank is better when you have puffers anyway. messy fish!

[HRPuffersnStuff]

I actually like the Whispers filters if you are on a budget. I always recommend though, that you double up filtration on any tank. I run a whisper 60 on my 29 and it works beautifully. If you read the box on them, its says they are rated like, 10-30. I think whatever the smallest rating is is probably closer to what it is really suited for. I have had one of my whisper filters for four years and it is still running strong. Its currently on my 55 gallon with another whisper 60 and a cascade 1000. (I like to overstock)

[mikeosoft]

I agree its probably not large enough for a 30gal. After messing with cartridge filters, I've always used AquaClears since then. If you have a Petsmart near you, you should be able to price-match their online price and get them much cheaper. Just print out item w/ price from the website and bring it in.

[tranceFusion]

Well, the Aquaclears are not really much more than the Whispers at the Superpetz by my house. I was just using the whisper because it was given to me for free.

I'll either replace it with a big aquaclear, or add an aquaclear to the existing setup (and keep the whisper too).

Does 30 gal seem sufficient for a figure 8 and 4 bumblebees? Is it generally accepted that puffers prefer to be without a buddy to keep them company?

[Pufferpunk]

You could even keep 2 F8s in there with the BBGs.

[tranceFusion]

But they don't get lonely do they? One will be better than two, for the fish?

[jake_vdb]

But they don't get lonely do they? One will be better than two, for the fish?

No they do not get lonely. If I remember correctly, RTR said that in his long term studies that F8's live longer by themselves. In retrospect I think I would have only bought 1 F8 for my 38G. The two I have don't interact really at all. If anything I think they try and avoid each other, I've seen them get nippy once in a great while too.

You might try a pair of orange chromides (I love mine) or a knight goby (although he might eat BBGs).