Hi everyone,

Although I am not new to planted tanks I do not have any experience with dwarf puffers so I am creating a checklist prior to starting to ensure the basics are covered.

The tank will be set-up, planted and cycled prior to adding the puffers to their new home. I already have snails and shrimp in other tanks so live foods will not be a problem.

The items below are a general guide to equipment so you get the basic idea of what I'm doing.

1. Glass Aquarium, 10 gallons
2. Filter:_____________________
3. Lighting 27 watt 6500K
4. Substrate: Red Flourite capped with black sand.
5. Heater 50 watt
6. Various live plants for aquascaping
7. Driftwood
8. Number of puffers: 2 or 3

Knowing their messy eating habits and the size of the tank I want to supply them with superior EXTERNAL filtration. Specifically a canister filter, either the ZooMed 501 or Tom's Rapids Mini C-80., but since my filter experience is limited to HOB and internal filters have a few questions:

1. Would the output of either of these canister filters be too strong for the 10 gallon tank? I don't want the puffers struggling against currents.

2. Can the output be diffused with a spraybar or similiar device, if so, what would be recommended.

3. What are some pro's and con's to using canister filters?

Please Advise
Thanks,
BG

Both of these filters produce only 80gph throughput. I would be vastly more afraid of them under-filtering, and neither can be place on the floor under the tank, they need to be at tank height or suffer a reduction in flow. Cannister filters are generally considered "superior" but that is mostly because the very highest end filters are cannisters - I'd take a quality forced-throughput HOB like an aquaclear over a junk cannister any day.

I now swear by Aqua Clear. I like the 3 stages and the ability to "customize" the filration media. Also, they all have a flow adjustment not found on many other filters. It's nice to turn the flow down during feeding.

Good Luck!

i really know nothing about canister filters, but isn't the recommended gph of a filter about 5x more than the gallons in a tank? so wouldn't a filter that does 80gph be fine for a ten gallon?

5x is bare minimum for tiny tropical fish lightly stocked, or fish that cannot deal with current. Puffers it tends to be 10x the gallonage per hour. Cannister filters are also rated for level pumping, and while the dropoff at different head heights is not so severe as for cheap pumps, 80gph will go down below the 5gph absolute minimum very very quickly because it's already a low rating and because both of these specify they will only work to spec if at the same water level as the tank - high end cannister filters work quite well below the tank out of sight.

The concern is often not so much how well the filter pushes water totally clean, but how quickly it slows down, with cannisters.

I like canister filters because you can use spray bars to customize where the water currents are and adjust the plumbing to target specific areas of the the tank where higher circulation may be needed.

All the HOB filters I have seen just cascade the water back into the tank without the ability to direct the flow path. When using HOB filters I always had to add unsightly powerheads for more current options.

I am still searching for filter options though. Feel free to post your filter preferences.

frankly i'd just go for a hob filter for a ten gallon. its kind of bulky, and theres limited choice of where the flow is, but its cheap, and easy to set up. if you really want amazing filtration, maybe you should set up a sump? I know it seems a little overkill for a 10 gallon, but its the only other kind of filtration I know much about. That would allow you to choose where the flow is, and have more control over how it filters your tank.

The 10 gallon in my sig has an Aquaclear20 on it. I keep it on the highest setting and it turns over an incredible amount. When I dose my fertilizers dry I aim for the outflow and it's shocking to see just how well that single filter creates a current in the tank to all parts. I had a BGA outbreak that required treating with Maracyn (a powder that doesn't dissolve quickly) and it looked like a snow globe in the tank.

I'm in the process of hunting down some driftwood to make it a bit less barren but the puffer seems happy even now.

Most people have experience with junk HOBS, as opposed to good ones. Super cheap HOBS are given away with tank kits, and give all of them a bad reputation. The outflow options for cannisters are nice to have, but in tanks of under 20 gallons, I find the outflow from a single HOB to be fine. In tanks bigger than that, I usually just use two HOBs, finding that to still be cheaper than the cannister that would move the same amount of water. If you've been doing tanks 29 gallons or bigger, a single HOB does seem to leave dead spots, but I have no found that to be the case with smaller tanks.

I asked my neighbor about filters and described the puffers eating habits. He suggested to use 2 AquaClear 20 filters to create complex currents that would prevent dead spots around the decorations and plant growth. He also said that I should alternate cleaning the filters so there is always one mature filter media to handle the bio load.

This sounded good to me, but I don't know how noisy 2 filters are going to be.

I usually use one aquaclear 30 on a ten gallon, because the puffers themselves do like a few dead spots to sleep at night, and because the amount of decor dwarf puffers need to keep them happy means no amount of current will keep the bottom from accumulating detritus.

Aquaclears are only noisy if you let the water level drop, so I recommend a glass type top that will minimize evaporation, rather than conventional plastic hoods.

One recommendation if you go this route is to keep the cover on the Aquaclear off. It doesn't prevent against leaks in case of overflow (you always make sure the HOB is tilted TOWARDS the tank), and having it off will allow for better gas transfer. Glass tops are great, but they really can seal in the tank a bit too much IMO.

Also I think the 2 20's would be fantastic. IMO overkill (I have a single 20 and it's more filtration that needed) but if you don't mind the extra expense it's wonderful. I rarely if ever have to clean my filter (maybe 3 times a year?). Even though they are messy eaters since they don't produce much waste that gets into the filter and I only have anubias which don't fall apart and get sucked up into filters the way some finer-leaved species do I really never see decreased flow in the tank.

My community tank at home requires weekly filter cleaning (intake tube gets clogged and reduces flow drastically), and at least once a month complete disassembly and squeezing out into a bucket of used tank water to get the flow back to new. I always make sure the plants are almost overgrown when I do a filter cleaning to prevent ammonia issues, but with 2 filters you'd avoid this potential problem.

I as well use Aquaclear filters on all of my smaller tanks, they are reliable and simple.

I have an aqua clear 30 on my 10 gallon DP tank, I use Pool filter sand as substrate and when I turned it up all the way that thing was blowing around the sand. I keep it set at about half output and I can still see all the plants in my tank moving. it is more then enough filteration for that tank.

How low do you keep your water level in relation to the filter? I have an Aquaclear50 on my 10 gallon and the only time I've seen this issue is if I forget to turn the filter off and do a 50% water change (huge waterfall). PFS is great in that it requires quite a current to move it.