The Puffer Forum

Hello,
This is my first post on this board after lurking for some time. After much research, I have decided to set up a brackish tank with figure 8's. I have never had a fish tank before, so this is all very new to me! I have a few questions on the tank set up (I am kind of confused about filters) and hope someone could give me their input.
I was given a 29 gallon tank with a used Fluval 304 canister filter. I plan on keeping 2 figure 8's, or possibly 1 f-8 and a few BB Gobies (still haven't decided yet). Would this be a good filter to use for my tank? If so, is this the only filter I would need? I was also given a heater, which reads: Tronic 200w, model number A-763. Would it be sufficient to use in the tank? Lastly, I have city water, which is very soft. Would it be wise to use marine Aragonite as substrate? How much would I need for a 29 gallon tank? Sorry for all of the questions, I just want to get this right so I will have happy fishies!

I don't know much (ok, anything) about Fluvals. I prefer HOB filters, especially for a tank that size. Since you'll be cleaning it often, it can be a PITA to have to open, when eve it needs cleaning.

I suggest reading the F8 article in our Library & the one on Fjshless Cycling.

I agree, do have a read of the article in the library.

As for the filter, many people like fluvals, I hate 'em. That filter is, if I'm not mistaken built for tanks up to 300 liters (about 79 gallons) so that will be more than enough filtration for your tank, and therefore yes, that will definitely be the only filter you need.

I am not familiar with that brand of heater, so I couldn't say. The hydor heaters say you would need a 300w, but with the Jager ones you would only need 200w. So it really depends on the brand. Maybe there is some way you can find out what size tank it is recommended for? Anything on the actual heater?

No idea about the substrate. How soft are we talking here?

assuming you are talking about the crushed coral, in a marine take I use a pound a gallon as a rule of thumb

Fluval isn't that bad of a canister filter once you get past the PITA of opening them. I've got a Fluval 404, 405, and a Marineland c-360 (my favorite) and the Fluval series has given great filtration. You are looking to filter (turnover) your water close to 10 times an hour for a heavily stocked tank or one with a high bio load and the 304 will get you very close (260 gph). The only suggestions I'd make is to change the tubing on it from the corrugated to smooth tubing as the corrugated tubing builds up a lot of algae and can narrow to the point of restricting water flow. I really like the HOB filters for FW tanks but I wasn't too happy with them on brackish tanks due to salt build up (my limited experience with brackish water).

Thank you for all of your help. It looks like filters are a bit of a personal choice! For those of you that don't like the Fluval, what kind of filter would you recommend for a 29 gallon tank?
After doing some searching, heres what I found on the heater:
Tronic Submersible Electronic Heater
- 220 240v
- 200 Watts
- 28cm / 11"
- Maximum aquarium capacity : 200 l / 50 Gallons
- Provides accurate thermal control
- Fast heat technology works constantly to achieve the right temperature
- Fully submersible
- Built to last
- Safety Shut-off
It looks like it will be fine to use since it heats up to 50 gallons, am I correct?
Riggers, I am not sure on the numbers, but I do know that our tap water is soft. I thought I read somewhere that if you have soft water that you should use marine aragonite sand because it helps raise the ph or something? Is it ok to use gravel?

I have a fluval cannister and I really don't like it compared to my other caninster filters. However, since you were given it for free, it IS a good filter and will work for you nicely, so you might as well use it. Hang on back filters like AquaClears are very inexpensive and work well, but they are noisy. Cannisters are super quiet and work well, but are a little extra work when it comes to cleaning. My biggest complaint with my Fluval was getting the prime going again after disconnecting it from the tank. Cleaning the actual media is a snap, as it just disconnects, you take it to the sink, and rinse everything out. No big deal. I'd rather do that than lean over a tank and fight with a hang on back filter and cord LOL.

I do agree with Dadof4's recommendation of changing the tubing to some smooth stuff, I wish someone had told me that years ago! If I ever set mine back up, I'll do that (its sitting in a friend's basement at the moment).

Anyways, I would set up your tank with this filter, then play with it a bit. Get used to how it works. Empty half the tank, then refill and see if you have issues keeping a prime, etc... BEFORE you buy any fish. It will probably work just fine for you, if you are able to follow directions to set it up.


On to your actual setup, yes, you'll want to use argonite sand for a substrate. Generally enough to cover the bottom with an inch or so, so one bag would probably be enough for a 29 gallon tank (I'm assuming you dont want to bother with live plants or anything). You can also use crushed coral, but personally, I found it traps food and waste and grows a lot of algae. I am much happier with argonite.

You'll also need marine salt (Instant Ocean for example) and not "aquarium salt". And a hydrometer (cheaper, only a few bucks, but not as accurate) or refractometer (more expensive but much more accurate) to measure your salt levels. If you get a hydrometer, be sure it goes all the way down to 1.000, as some start higher than a figure 8 would need. A 29 gallon tank holds about 25 actual gallons of water, so a 200 or 250 watt heater would be perfect, so you should be set there. Is the one you have glass or titanium? If it is glass, be careful, as pulling a hot heater out into cold air can and will crack it, giving you a nasty shock (just mentioning this since you said you've never had a fish tank before).

Read the cycling article, so you know what to expect for getting the tank going. A brand new tank setup will kill your fish unless you pre-cycle it, and get the bacteria going. This takes a few weeks of "feeding" the tank with fish food or ammonia, or, you can get a more expensive product called BioSpira to "instantly" cycle your tank. Most of the other products such as "cycle" will not work, so don't waste your money on them. You will want to cycle your tank at the salinity you are going to be keeping the Figure 8's in, so get the salt, etc right away.

As far as the actual fish, you're working with about 25 gallons. So you could go with two figure 8's, or one figure 8 and a few bumblebee gobies, that sort of a setup. If you get any gobies, make sure you create a lot of caves/hidy holes because they can get territorial and like to claim their own area.

For feeding, puffers generally do not eat your typical flake fish food, they like meatier stuff. Usually they like things like defrosted bloodworms, shrimp, squid, (things you can get at most pet stores that carry fish) or live food like blackworms, earthworms and snails.

Be prepared to do weekly 50% water changes, as puffers are pretty touchy to dirty water. Its not that hard, and its a lot easier than buying all kinds of chemicals to try to keep your fish healthy

Hope that helps some, any more questions feel free to ask!

Wow you could make a book out of the Myaj! No seriously though it is all good advice though so do listen to it!

May I ask, are you in the US or UK? I am assuming US, but I was just thinking because over here we don't really seem to have HOBs that much, but we do have internal, and all can say is do not get one ever! They are a real pain to do maintenance on cause the whole thing is wet and it drips everywhere when you take it out and you have to make sure the cord doesn't get wet and stuff, and yeah it's just a nightmare.

Myaj, thank you for all of your help. I really do appreciate it, being new to fish and all. I do have one more question about the Fluval, if you could help. I have opened it up, and the parts (sponges I guess) look pretty gross. I am assuming I need to replace all of these? As there any other parts I need to replace (the tubing has already been replaced to the smooth kind)? Being that it was given to me, I don't have an instruction book, so it looks pretty foreign to me. Sorry if these are stupid questions, but I guess I have to learn somehow!

Well, first off, you need your instruction manual, so print this off:
http://www.hagen.com/pdf/aquatic/Fluval04.pdf



As far as the sponges, yeah, I'd go ahead and buy replacements for them since they've been sitting and are probably pretty nasty. In the future, you can just rinse them out either in tank water or I just use tap water (any chlorine can kill part of your biofilter but I make sure to not over clean the glass/gravel if I'm going to be cleaning the sponges).

oliver wrote:Thank you for all of your help. It looks like filters are a bit of a personal choice! For those of you that don't like the Fluval, what kind of filter would you recommend for a 29 gallon tank?
After doing some searching, heres what I found on the heater:
Tronic Submersible Electronic Heater
- 220 240v
- 200 Watts
...
It looks like it will be fine to use since it heats up to 50 gallons, am I correct?

Yup, this will be plenty. I've had a bunch of Tronic heaters.