The Puffer Forum

Hi guys

I am about to undertake a slow (due to funding) build of a 21 gallon dwarf puffer aquarium.

I have read nearly every post on this forum about these little balls of fun and decided to post progress of the build here. Any help and advice along the way will be greatly appreciated.

Here is a photo of the tank i will use for the display 21 imperial gallons. and a tank i plan to use as a sump (wet dry filter). Currently 18 imperial gallons.
This tank was given to me with a few chunks taken out of the edges and corners so will be dismantled, edges cleaned up and rebuilt reducing the tank to 16 imperial gallons. Possibly less, thinking of reducing the height then using the cut offs as the baffles. (Still working on the design for this) This tank will hold filtration, heaters and if enough room breeding area for snails and brine shrimp.

The display tank will be heavily low tech planted (plant list to follow when i decide what i want) and filled with caves and tunnels for the puffers to explore.

I am thinking of building the cabinet out of 25mm square tube system then dressed with MDF or chipboard. Do you think this system will take the weight of the display tank and is there any way of sealing the MDF or chipboard so it will not absorb any spillage.

Will this LED lighting work for what i want. This will be upgraded with a timer and dimmer.

Thank you

M@

Looks well planned out, I look forward to following your progress.

Welch04 has a great planted tank build (high tech) in another one of these threads. You could probably get a good bit of knowledge out of that thread for plants. It has a lot of good information. you should check it out.

Sheets of glass are actually pretty cheap. you may want to consider saving the height of the tank and picking up a few pieces for your baffles. Sadly, my corporate Big Brother will not allow me to look at the LED lights because I should be diligently working rather than visiting a Puffer Forum. Many LED lights are good enough to grow low-medium light plants. this will be enhanced IF you choose to make your tank shorter through cutting out your baffles.

Otherwise, I'll be following your build! Looks neat!

: ) still in progress i need to find my hardscape and i should be ready to flood. If your going for low tech I would highly recommend checking out Diana Walstad's ecology of the planted aquarium.

Hi guys

Still in progress. Dismantled the tank that will be used for the sump, trying to find a glazier near me to clean the edges.

M@

Hi Guys

Update dismantles spare aquarium, easier than i thought. Cut a piece of stiff plastic packaging into a blade shape and it cut through the silicone. Found a glazier to clean the edges of the glass still haven't decided how i want the sump so haven't done anything else with that yet.

Thanks to work, who were throwing away an amount of speed frame, i recycled and built the frame for the cabinet also picked up 2 table tops from the work that had the same fate
Tank placed temporarily, frame will be fully covered in wood before i finish.

M@