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I'm getting ready to set up a 65g FOWLR tank and was wondering what you all would recommend for filtration? The tank will probably house 2 or 3 puffers. I'm open to any and all ideas. The tank is not drilled and if possible, I'd like to stay away from a sump right now.

Thanks for the input!

Live Rock is and will be your main filtration.

Yeah. If you've got plenty of live rock in there (say, 65+ lbs), you won't really need a filter. The bacteria in the rock will do the biological filtration for you.

I'm not saying that a filter would be a bad idea, though. They can be useful in that activated carbon (supposedly) will make water look extra-clear, and the filter will help pull out large bits of detritus/leftover food from the water. It will also provide extra water flow and oxygenation.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Thanks, what about a skimmer? The remora pro has been recommended to me as a good skimmer, I was also looking at a coralife super-skimmer. Thoughts?

Last edited by puffer_archer at 30-Apr-2005 00:59

In order to have effective biological filtration, you're going to want at least a pound, of the most porous live rock available, per gallon.

In addition, for NNR I'd probably have a 4" DSB.

The live rock and sand bed should keep your levels under control. Puffers IMO are kind of messy eaters.

For a skimmer, you want to go with the most efficient one for the best price. You want easy maint. That means no confusing skimmer cups and whatnot. Personally, I really like the AquaC EV series. Great skimmers, easy to work with, and you can get an attatchment for calcium reactors and stuff too. A bit pricey, but well worth it IMO. After AquaC EV's I'd go with Aquamedics.

A skimmer isn't a necessity, but it's a very good choice...I can't stress that enough. I wouldn't dream of a FOWLR or reef tank w/o a good skimmer. Agressive protein skimming is key in many cases, especially when curing or cycling with live rock.

Hope this helped a bit.

-Ferret



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If genies were real and wishes came true, I’d rub the bottle and be holding you,
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-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I completely agree with Ferret...on almost everything

In addition, for NNR I'd probably have a 4" DSB.

The live rock and sand bed should keep your levels under control. Puffers IMO are kind of messy eaters.

A deep sand bed of 3-4 inches would def. do the trick to help with NNR. With puffers being a messy eater you will need pretty massive flow to keep leftovers in suspension long enough to make it to the skimmer. Also realize that they are heavy waste producers and aggressive skimming is IMO essential to keeping water quality high.

Another approach to messy eaters/large waste producers is to actually use a very shallow bed of crushed coral as your substrate....a 1/2 inch would be plenty. Now the key to using the crushed coral with a messy eater is to do gravel vacs weekly just like you would on a a FW tank....making sure to plunge the vac all the way to the bottom of the crushed coral.

the crushed coral method is a bit more work, and if you dont keep up on the vac's you WILL have problems.....but its another option that is available and that works well. You just cant slack off on the maint.



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Thanks for the advice guys. I'm well aware of the messiness of puffers. :%) Not keeping up on maintenance in a fw or bw tank is asking for disaster as well. I plan on having at least two or three powerheads in the tank for circulation in addition to the skimmer.

No problem! Always glad to help.

With messy fish like puffers, your circulation will be extremely important. Make sure you've got no dead areas in your tank.

Have you considered maybe some sort of manifold instead of powerheads? Might work a little nicer...or you could even do a combination of the two.

What kind of puffers are you interested in, btw?




[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]
If genies were real and wishes came true, I’d rub the bottle and be holding you,
I’d close my eyes, wish upon a star, open my eyes, and there you are…
[/font]



-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

lol, all of them. However, the puffers that will be going in this tank will be T. nigroviridis and T. fluviatilis (if I can ever find another one).

I'm not sure I'm familiar with a manifold, care to elaborate?

Sure...

A manifold is a special design made out of pvc pipe. It kind of outlines the top of the tank, it goes all the way around the edge. Every couple inches, however much you want really, you put a "T" on...and then whatever fitting after that, lockline tubing or whatever. When you hook it up to a pump, you've got an instant home-made oceans motions type unit for circulation.

Anthony Calfo writes about manifolds in his book of coral propagation, which I have. I dont have time to look more up on it now, but tomorrow if I find the time I'll type up an excerpt from it and/or get a diagram to ease confusion.

You might be able to find something if you google it...I basically just summed it up in a nutshell. >.< Hope this helped a bit.




[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]
If genies were real and wishes came true, I’d rub the bottle and be holding you,
I’d close my eyes, wish upon a star, open my eyes, and there you are…
[/font]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Actually, that was a perfect definition, I know exactly what you're talking about.

That actually sounds like a good idea. I'll definitely look into it, especially since it seems like something that can be built cheaply.

Sorry, another question, when you say massive flow, how much do you mean? In my puffer tanks I normally aim for a turn over of at least 10x per hour. Would this be sufficient or should I aim higher?

I think I'll probably go with a deep sand bed for the substrate.