The Puffer Forum

Hey peoples,

Our 55g tank burst and leaked everywhere and we are getting a 140 in atm ...
Im not sure if we can put puffer in it straight away even though if we use
the 2 fluval internal filters from 55 so was wondering how long can we keep
fahaka in a little 8g plastic container .. 15"long 10" tall .. ??

Thank youuu

If you feed the filters ammonia, then you can instantly cycle the new tank. Just keep the bacteria alive. And even if the bigger tank was totally uncycled, it would still be a far better option than the plastic container. More water = more dilution = safer water.

As for the 8g, since your fahaka is so small (1.5in, I think you said in another post?) you can leave her there for at least a couple of weeks, provided that you do water changes every day.

ahh Thank you LilGreenPuffer for the good advices

yeah shes only 1 1/2" atm and we have the 2 fluvals in the 35g cray tank to keep it goig but couldnt fit the Tetratec 1200 external on the 35g .. since the 35 has 3 filters in it already hehe

Thats great, we will move her asap

.. oh do you know if a 140tank is safe in living room next to wall or is it too heavy .. we are gonna get someone to have a look at the structure since the 55 sloped abit about a cm ... it be sweet to get some solid concrete under the tank ... then not much worries

I have no idea, actually. Wait 'till the expert takes a look.

Babalu wrote:ahh Thank you LilGreenPuffer for the good advices

yeah shes only 1 1/2" atm and we have the 2 fluvals in the 35g cray tank to keep it goig but couldnt fit the Tetratec 1200 external on the 35g .. since the 35 has 3 filters in it already hehe

Thats great, we will move her asap

As long as you keep the filters circulating in the cray tank you should be OK, you may have a mini cycle when you switch over to the 140 gal because you have so much filtration on the 35 you are going to lose some of the bacteria in the fluvals. IT shouldn't bee too bad because of the dilution that will be caused in a 140 gallon with only a 1.5 inch Fahaka.

Babalu wrote:.. oh do you know if a 140tank is safe in living room next to wall or is it too heavy .. we are gonna get someone to have a look at the structure since the 55 sloped abit about a cm ... it be sweet to get some solid concrete under the tank ... then not much worries

When you figure out tank weights figure about 15 lbs per gallon. 10 lbs for water and 5 lbs for sand and gravel. This is a big overestimate but I like to be safe than sorry. If you're on a first floor and are on an outside wall you should be ok because that is meant to be a load bearing wall. Leveling a tank this size is an absolute must! I live in a real old home and have had to level all my tanks. Bought a 6 foot level and a bunch of composite shims. Put the tank on the stand and pound in the shims under the stand to make sure you are level. Never shim under the tank itself. Even a little tilt one way can cause a tank to rupture, aquariums are built to depend on even weight dispersement throughout the seams. Too much on one and the result is catastrophic. A 30 gallon, not so bad but still a risk if not level.

As long as you keep the filters circulating in the cray tank you should be OK, you may have a mini cycle when you switch over to the 140 gal because you have so much filtration on the 35 you are going to lose some of the bacteria in the fluvals. IT shouldn't bee too bad because of the dilution that will be caused in a 140 gallon with only a 1.5 inch Fahaka.

My take on this--If there is an established filter that has been used to support the bioload of the puffer in his tank that broke & it's moved onto a smaller "tank", the bacteria in it will still be enough to support the fish. Same thing when it's moved to a larger tank. Why the "mini-cycle"?

Pufferpunk wrote:

As long as you keep the filters circulating in the cray tank you should be OK, you may have a mini cycle when you switch over to the 140 gal because you have so much filtration on the 35 you are going to lose some of the bacteria in the fluvals. IT shouldn't bee too bad because of the dilution that will be caused in a 140 gallon with only a 1.5 inch Fahaka.

My take on this--If there is an established filter that has been used to support the bioload of the puffer in his tank that broke & it's moved onto a smaller "tank", the bacteria in it will still be enough to support the fish. Same thing when it's moved to a larger tank. Why the "mini-cycle"?

What I was looking at is that he's putting 2 established filters in a 35 gallon tank that already has multiple established filters that support the biolaod of that tank. There may not be enough ammonia in the 35 gal to suppport all those filters and there may be some bacteria die off in all the filters over time. I may not be explaining this correctly..... Basically what I'm trying to say is that there isn't enough food for all the bacteria in all the filters, some dies off, and when the fluvals are moved to the larger tank with a fish that provides a higher bioload than the 35 gal could provide, the filters may have a little trouble keeping up until the bacteria can grow to meet the new load.

Yeah, I thought my post might have been confusing as well. My thought is, if you move the filtration from tank to tank, supporting the same fish along with the moves, there should be no cycling involved. Makes sense?

Pufferpunk wrote:Yeah, I thought my post might have been confusing as well. My thought is, if you move the filtration from tank to tank, supporting the same fish along with the moves, there should be no cycling involved. Makes sense?

When I read the OP I thought the fish wasn't following the filter, hence the thought of a mini cycle. I agree that if the fish follows the filters there should not be a mini cycle when they go on 140 gallon.

Yep, I know we'd agree on that one!

Dadof4 wrote:

Babalu wrote:ahh Thank you LilGreenPuffer for the good advices

yeah shes only 1 1/2" atm and we have the 2 fluvals in the 35g cray tank to keep it goig but couldnt fit the Tetratec 1200 external on the 35g .. since the 35 has 3 filters in it already hehe

Thats great, we will move her asap

As long as you keep the filters circulating in the cray tank you should be OK, you may have a mini cycle when you switch over to the 140 gal because you have so much filtration on the 35 you are going to lose some of the bacteria in the fluvals. IT shouldn't bee too bad because of the dilution that will be caused in a 140 gallon with only a 1.5 inch Fahaka.

Babalu wrote:.. oh do you know if a 140tank is safe in living room next to wall or is it too heavy .. we are gonna get someone to have a look at the structure since the 55 sloped abit about a cm ... it be sweet to get some solid concrete under the tank ... then not much worries

When you figure out tank weights figure about 15 lbs per gallon. 10 lbs for water and 5 lbs for sand and gravel. This is a big overestimate but I like to be safe than sorry. If you're on a first floor and are on an outside wall you should be ok because that is meant to be a load bearing wall. Leveling a tank this size is an absolute must! I live in a real old home and have had to level all my tanks. Bought a 6 foot level and a bunch of composite shims. Put the tank on the stand and pound in the shims under the stand to make sure you are level. Never shim under the tank itself. Even a little tilt one way can cause a tank to rupture, aquariums are built to depend on even weight dispersement throughout the seams. Too much on one and the result is catastrophic. A 30 gallon, not so bad but still a risk if not level.

Thanks for the advice everyone ... we moved her into the 35g and took the crays out until we can get the 140 sorted. Shes doing really well .. has eaten 2 live crays already and seems to always be begging for food .. sign of healthy puffer

Would this item be ok to level the tank :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wooden-wedges-for ... tsupported

Thank youuu

Something like this works best, gradual incline and easier to adjust and you can find these at the local hardware store.
http://www.shimcoshims.com/itoolkit.asp ... c=jnlmfrg4