Nightster's fahaka puffer thread

[sunkenmetal]

crunchy

[nightster]

Re: Nightster's fahaka puffer thread

Dinner time!

[nightster]

No biggie, this thread has taken many side roads but always finds it's way back.

[Totenkampf]

woohoo! sorry for the semi-thread jacking earlier but i am trolling fahaka owners for info

[nightster]

Well he is still alive, was begging for food yesterday so I guess I can consider the move a success.

[nightster]

OIC, It sounds like an interesting project. It would be nice to house the snail hatchery under the tank, but I don't have the room. Do it and if you have great success with it then ill get you to build me one!

[Totenkampf]

i would probably just have a sump (refugium) not a wet /dry so i would plant fast growing floaters like anacharis / milfoil or maybe bog plants in riparium containers to pull out nitrates...i would also use this as a snail hatchery and prefilter before the biomedia laden canisters. my idea is still evolving especially since i was looking out DIY overflows / wet drys / canister videos at lunch. if i do add a wet / dry then i have an idea about adding a 55 gallon sump under the 75. i could section that off into half refugium half wet / dry in that case and still have 100+ gallons of water column.

[nightster]

Quite possibly could be it, I guess ill find out after the lights get changed. Planting the sump? Guess I've never thought about that, act kinda like a refugium(?) for saltwater? I don't see how that would work with a wet/dry though. I'm by no means an expert on these fish, but i don't think extra aeration would hurt anything. Ive thought about adding an air pump and putting the air stone under the bio balls in the wet/dry.

[Totenkampf]

i would imagine that the main thing is excess nitrates from a big fat and happy puffer. i'm strongly thinking about planting the sump when i get around to getting a fahaka. would you recommend adding airstone if i dont end up using a trickle filter? i would think that they would like well aereated water?

[nightster]

I don't even have any plants in the tank, they are all fake! Ill probably cut the light cycle back some too...

[Totenkampf]

I'm tired of the light I have on it now. They say 10k on them but Idk how old the bulbs are and are starting to look extremely yellow. I also had a ridiculous amount of algae growing in the tank so I'm almost positive the "k" value has dropped tremendously. After seeing SunnyHouTX's tank with the led stunner strips I decided it was time to make a change, so I ordered 2 36" 8000k stunner strips to replace the PC fixture I have now.

yes. flourescents will yellow with use and the spectrum will shift. cheaper ones with lesser quality phosphors will do this much more quickly. this is also probably the cause of algae growth since the higher plants will slow down their metabolism and the algae will fill the niche created by leftover nutrients and subpar lighting.

[nightster]

Just noticed how chunky he looks in the video. I fed him 2 table shrimp before the move in anticipation of him being stressed and moody after the move, so i wanted to make sure he had some food in him in case he didn't eat for a week or so.

[nightster]

Re: Nightster's fahaka puffer thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W-cNW3DXG0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[nightster]

Re: Nightster's fahaka puffer thread

i have been digging roy and sashas fahaka. these things have mad personality. i have way too many half finished projects ATM but maybe around christmas i can get started on a setup. i was thinking of modifying my old 75 gallon with a glass-holes 1500gph overflow on one end and going into a 29 gallon sump / snail and anacharis refugium for more water volume. i was thinking a large eheim pro II canister and a couple water socks in the sump would be enough filtration but i am now wondering after reading this thread. i would imagine that a 90H or 115XH would be much better and increase the chance of dither fish not becoming a snack so maybe i will run across a deal and stillhave the cajones to grind big holes in it

Yea Fahakas have awesome personality. In my small amount of research I've read that a longer wider tank is better than taller tanks. Not saying it wouldn't work, just what I've read. I'm sure the filtration you mentioned should suffice with regular water changes. I've been slacking on water changes over the last few weeks, too many other things going on right now. I'm tired of the light I have on it now. They say 10k on them but Idk how old the bulbs are and are starting to look extremely yellow. I also had a ridiculous amount of algae growing in the tank so I'm almost positive the "k" value has dropped tremendously. After seeing SunnyHouTX's tank with the led stunner strips I decided it was time to make a change, so I ordered 2 36" 8000k stunner strips to replace the PC fixture I have now.

[nightster]

Re: Nightster's fahaka puffer thread

Done. He seems fine, lil moody though...