The Puffer Forum

Im planning on getting a small puffer or two, maybe a valentini and a couple figure 8's. But I want to make sure I have everything I need to keep them happy. Am I missing anything?

- 30 gallon tank with eclipse 2 hood
- bio-wheel filtration
- heater (80 degrees)
- hydor koralia 750 gp/h (too much flow?)
- 20 lbs. live rock

At my LFS they said I wouldnt need a skimmer as long as I did weekly waterchanges since im getting smaller puffers. Is this true?

no good for the F8s.. they are almost FW.

A Valentini and Figure 8 need very different environments; marine and low end brackish respectively. For a 30 gallon, I'd vote for Figure 8.
That Koralia 750 made a decent monsoon in my 75 gallon tank, your puffer wouldn't be able to swim and everything in your tank would be pushed to one side.

If going with a HOB, I suggest Aquaclear; Bio wheels make too much noise and mess in brackish/marine. A 70 would be great and you wouldn't need an additional circulation pump.

Set your temp for 76 - 78° F

I totally agree with the above!

J-P wrote:no good for the F8s.. they are almost FW.

Ok, no F8's. I will stick with Valentini only then, 30 gallon for now, but will move him to a larger tank eventually.

The local fish store told me the figure 8's are FW/BW during youth, but they thrive in saltwater as adults... is that bull?

They might be confused with GSPs Green spotted buffers which look a bit similar.

[quote="sevenyearnight"]A Valentini and Figure 8 need very different environments; marine and low end brackish respectively. For a 30 gallon, I'd vote for Figure 8.
That Koralia 750 made a decent monsoon in my 75 gallon tank, your puffer wouldn't be able to swim and everything in your tank would be pushed to one side.

>So, what would you recommend? A nano size powerhead? the 425 gp/h model?

If going with a HOB, I suggest Aquaclear; Bio wheels make too much noise and mess in brackish/marine. A 70 would be great and you wouldn't need an additional circulation pump.

>Im not going with HOB since I have the eclipse hood. Should I remove all the filter media from the hood and just use it for circulation? And would that be all the circulation I needed? (ie. no powerheads?)

Do I need a skimmer or not?

Sorry for all the questions just want to do it right.

for full SW it is recommended that you have a skimmer in addition to the live rock.


I can't say about the powerheads. I have never kept that puffer but others will chime in.

Also keep in mind that many LFS usually know little about puffers. I was told once that because GSPs and F8s are freshwater puffers they can't puff up. I had a lot to say after that single sentence.

I had that exact Eclipse system, I had it set up for about 8 months FOWLR, I used a small nano skimmer, air driven. It was hokey, but it did pull junk out of the water. I had live rock, and removed the filter pad and bio wheel, this was temporary home to my GSP. I had ideal water parameters the entire time. It's not a super super system for long term FOWLR, but it will do.

The pump with that is already 295 GPH, you will not need a Koralia.

So you're saying I dont need a powerhead at all?

And can you give me a link or picture of the nano skimmer you are referring to?

The "waterfall" effect of the filter, should be enough flow.

I will post a link, but I can't say I strongly recommend this skimmer, but it's just what I happened to have. I buy most of my stuff used, and this was in a grab bag of stuff. It's the skimmer they sell for biocubes, and it's air driven. http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CFoQ8wIwAA#

It didn't work at first, as most skimmers, it took time to start pulling stuff out of the water into the collection cup, and you have to keep tweeking the bubble dial.

Pros: It's small and fits inside of the tank.
After the break in period, it did pull gross stuff out of the water.
Price is fairly minimal.

Cons: Not the most effective skimmer.
The air pump is noisy.
The wood diffusers need to be cleaned and replaced time to time.

Thanks for the link and info. I think the cons are a little much for me to buy that one. I'll probably look to get a more expensive one, but no more than $100 since its just for a 30gal.

I saw the hydor slim skim nano and im kinda interested in it. Does anyone have experience with it? Effective?
Link > http://www.marinedepot.com/Hydor_Korali ... NW-vi.html