The Puffer Forum

Hey guys,

I have a fahaka puffer "Google", it is just over 3 inches and I just purchased a used 110-120 gal. tank. I know that the tank comes with 2 filters (one on each end) but they look old and inappropriate. I believe it is one of those bottom filters where you place some trays below the gravel. Being that I plan on using some crushed coral and sand (Tahitian Moon sand by Caribsea) and the puffers excellent water conditions what do you guys suggest??
The LFS showed me the Fluval 405 canisters and the Cascade 1000 and 1200, any pros and cons with these? I read some good and bad reviews on the Fluval 5 series, also keep in mind that my budget is no more than $200.00 USD.
Also open to any recomendations on the gravel / lighting and so on, the tank comes with a stand and i would like to build a matching canopy for it so its probably going to be another month or so till i transfer him.

Well, to start with, you probably shouldn't use crushed coral. It's not necessary except for when you need to buffer the pH to a high level. Tahitian moon sand is gorgeous, though!

I hear that undergravel filters are hard to maintain and not terribly efficient. I once saw them described as "old-school," and not in a good way! Plus, you have to use gravel - sand falls through.

As for canister brands, I'll leave that to someone else. Welcome to the forum!

Never used a cascade filter but I've never had a problem with my Fluval 305, quite quiet, the only slight pain was the manual prime.

welcome to the forum, puffaman!
i'm a big fan of the Fluval 5 series
all of my tanks have one
very easy to maintain, very reliable, very quiet
bear in mind, though, that a Fluval 405 is rated for a tank capacity of "up to" 100 gallons
it probably won't be sufficient for your tank, especially with a little "gross polluter" in it
overfiltration is important!

Sand & UGF don't go together. I'd forgo the UGF for other types of filtration & large water changes.

I have 2 Aquaclear 110s & an Eheim canister filter on my 125g fahaka tank. Check the Gen Disc forum for a sticky on Drs Foster & Smith rebates for online pet supplies.

I had an underground filter system when I began to take care of my parent's cichlid community tank. We ended up moving them to a bigger tank about 6 months into it, but what we found underneath the underground filter system literally just disgusted everyone in the house. All the fecal matter, detritus, etc that we couldn't vacuum out of the water ended up just getting completely locked under the underground filter system. When we lifted it out of the tank, huge clouds of brown fog covered the whole aquarium until the aquarium water became an opaque brown. It was pretty bad.

I never did like those undergravel filters, they always seemed so "basic" to me .... or maybe just cheap. I know some people who go on about how well they do, but I'm not convinced and after reading what Jivenjune wrote, it just reinforces my opinion about them.

On another note: I always use more than just an external filter on my big tanks. I will have a good external and then run at least one, if not two, internal filters to take care of the higher yucky floaties. Over-filtration in a puffer tank is a good thing.

On my 135g fahaka tank I have two Aquaclear 110's(500gph each) and an xp3(300gph) For price and effectiveness I think nothing beats the Aquaclear's

For my 180 gallon FW I use a Fluidized Sand Filter and a Fluval 405. The Sand filter can handle a tank up to 400 gallons, I just had to add a prefilter sponge to the intake. The 405 is more for water movement because I had it lying around.

Please explain your sand bed filter to the curious, unknowing masses.

Sure, make me give away all my secrets! Actually I cheated on the FSB filter and bought one from DFS, I just added the prefilter myself using an old canister filter. The basics are: Water is pushed through the prefilter via pump, it enters the FSB filter at the top, get pushed down through a narrow chamber and then back up through a different chamber filled with sand. The object is to keep the water flow at a rate that will keep the sand in a quicksand like state, roughly 200-300 gph. The sand acts as a media for nitrfying bacterial growth and because there is so much surface area on each grain of sand it creates a big biofiltration area. With about 10 lbs of sand the biofiltration area is massive. The link below is the filter I bought because it was on sale for less than it would have cost to make one.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=3654

Thank you guys for all your feedback, I actually decided not to go with that tank bc it was advertised as a 150 gallon tank but turns out it is only 110 gallons (craigslist go figure) and I don't want to upgrade the upgraded if you know what I mean...
I'm actually looking at a 150 gallon tank and probably will be getting a Fluval or a Cascade canister filter which are similar however a certain model of the cascade can handle a grater amount of water and some other type of filtration on top of that. Very interesting sand filter btw! and thank you for the Dr. fosters tip too!