The Puffer Forum

OP is original poster.

ah i see thanks for clearing that up, last day of intense w/c waters looking good as clear as can be. wasnt exactly murky before, people who came in comment on how clear it was, it was ocd after all but glad i did it as i have proven to myself it wont get any clearer lol

There are folks who are even more compulsive on filtration than I am, and they run multiple grades of filter media down to and including 24/7 micon-level filtration. Those tanks look as if they have just been diatom filtereded, but they hold it all the time.

It is really impressive in a way, but I am not certain it is any healthier than tanks without constant micron filtration. Such tanks do have lower suspended bacterial counts than tanks without micron filtration. That sounds good, but many bacteria are beneficial. I am not convinced that such tanks are really healthier but I cannot prove it either way. I did set a test tank, but burned out on the extra care pretty quickly.

Hmm I like the sound of that.... More research needed. How much extra maintenance is required? Daily? The wife might not be so keen

I don't know how much healthier you can make your tanks with even more water changes, but somes unsolicited advice, your wife would probably be happier if you kept your normal schedule. Balance healthy tanks with a healthy marriage. Channel some OCD over her way, in a good way of course, not like constantly finding things in her teeth or anything. :/

I agree 100% with you both Bertie and RTR, water changes are rough on the water bill but the fish love them and that is all that counts, OCD or not!

My water is not metered so I pay the same no matter how much I use lol. But yes sevenyear I agree, my wife saw the thread and now knows what I was upto lol . She loves the fish but thinks I spend too much time tinkering lol

bertie 83 wrote:My water is not metered so I pay the same no matter how much I use lol. But yes sevenyear I agree, my wife saw the thread and now knows what I was upto lol . She loves the fish but thinks I spend too much time tinkering lol

Lol, I'm guilty of this too. But I've been doing better now at 1 or 2x a week normal water changes, husband does love the fish too, but he no longer tells me I'm being obsessive with water changes.

so i will stick to 3x weekly from now on, dont see any reason why i need to do more atm. if i have a spare hour or so tho i will do a little more. but need to remain happy with the readings i get currently 0/0/0 love it, i expect nitrate to raise a little which is fine, my plants may keep that in check tho

thats the puffertank btw lol others similar tho

RTR wrote:There is a bit of OCD in most good fish-keepers. But we are not nearly as bad as musicians or writers.

WOW, these OCD comments made me smile. It's soo true. I spend soo much time (1-2 hours/day) in my fishroom "piddling around" as my girlfriend likes to call it. I don't think it's too much time at all.

Lol so guilty of piddling around lol. Wife out this eve so can tinker til my hearts content lol

The micron-filtered tanks are clearer, no question. That is optical clarity, period. I am personally not al convinced that they are either healthier than others or less healthy than others. They are just clearer. If we are having a party, I tend to diatom the wall of tanks before the party, just so they look squeaky clean. Back when I hosted tank club meetings, I did not bother - fish folks know what you have done. To me the extra work and filtration is just showing off, not necessarily better, so I cannot convince myself if is worthwhile.

I operate separate biological and mechanical filtration. that I do consider worthwhile. All mechanical filters are rinse at least weekly which includes the pre-filters for the biological filters. The biofilters are back-flushed monthly, Water partials are weekly, generally 50%.but that can vary with particular tanks.

To operate micron-filtered tanks all that I needed was a Magnum with three micron pads - on in use, swapped out weekly, one being processed/cleaned, and one cleaned and ready to go into use. That filter along with all the others runs 24/7. So in effect you must have three complete filter systems, each individually able to handle the tank - one conventional mechanical filter (mine all use sponges rinsed weekly), one biofilter with sponge prefilter (sponge rinsed weekly;, biofilter back-flushed monthly) plus the Magnum micron pad changed out and cleaned weekly. It is more equipment cost and more power usage, plus the chemical cleaning of the micron pad after use. Only the micron cleaning is different from what I already do for all of the the tanks, but I do not consider the magnum very user-friendly.and the pad cleaning is several steps to do. I just do not really see the benerfit of the extra optical clarity for the health of the system.

I operate a lot of tanks, have forever. My wife has a lot of musical instruments (we will not discuss shoes or clothes). We both have time consuming hobbies and neither of us neglects the other, That is a fairly basic part of being married. She likes my fish and the gardens, I like her music. Neither of us is short-changed by the other's personal interests. I am not musical (although I do play with gongs), She is not a scientist or naturalist. I see no reason why individuals cannot have and enjoy their own things without shortchanging their partners. That is a fairly basic concept in marriage. As we are well past 40 years in that condition, I do not see that becoming an issue on either side at this late date...

i also run both mechanical and bio filtration and keep well maintained. its just me wanting clearer than crystal water. it can only be so clear tho, i just wanted a little more. i have now discovered that if you look through 5ft of water and it looks pristine and all tests show as close to perfect as possible then that is enough. no more is needed and by that i do not spend more time away from my wife than necessary (by away i mean being busy lol) so happy days lol. however if i get a couple of hours when she is out i will do extra cleaning as i like my tanks (down to 5 now) all looking perfect. i may be a show off but its what i do lol

I used the micron filtration for a few months, but I just got so tired of swapping the filter out each week. The water was very clear, but the micron filter absolutely needs to be swapped with a new one each week. The canister itself needs to be cleaned about each month too, the hoses and whatnot, it was gross and cumbersome. I just use a power head with a sponge now, and it's not really so much less clear that I'm concerned, and the turn over is right about the same.
I don't really know what to do with this canister now, I tried to sell it to someone, but they couldn't figure out how to maintain it and returned it.