Advice needed regarding purchase of undergravel filter!! Good or Bad for Characins??

[BlackTiger]

I'm getting equipment for my tank to house ATF's and Vampire characins etc..
I've been hearing from some that an undergravel filter is very beneficial to the characins. Some others have stated don't bother with it. For the sake of the fish's health I need some sound advice asap regarding if I should purchase an undergravel filter or not. What are the pros and cons to this. I will be purchasing my equipmuent this tuesday 03/21/06. Any help ,advice and guidance is truly appreciated!!

Thanks!!!

 

[phreakyfaerie]

i personallyu dislike undergravel filters, i have a much easier time cleaning my tanks with HOBs, undergravs are not too good for fry either so if you want you fish to breed go with a HOB opinions differ greatly on this subject around here i would say it it about 50/50.
if you want easy to deal with go for the HOB styly filter, i hate the sludge you get under the plate for an undergravel.
i have tanks with both though, and they both do work well all my tanks are crystal clear. i just think it is easier to clean the tanks with the HOBs

 

[repair]

i personallyu dislike undergravel filters, i have a much easier time cleaning my tanks with HOBs, undergravs are not too good for fry either so if you want you fish to breed go with a HOB opinions differ greatly on this subject around here i would say it it about 50/50.
if you want easy to deal with go for the HOB styly filter, i hate the sludge you get under the plate for an undergravel.
i have tanks with both though, and they both do work well all my tanks are crystal clear. i just think it is easier to clean the tanks with the HOBs

 

[rottbo]

i use undergravel filters and they work great but i also usee reverse flow on them

 

[jpitcl]

I used to be an undergravel die hard but not I believe in mega filtration. there is to much build up and it is way to hard to clean.

 

[rottbo]

reverse flow is awesome
but i also have three big filters on the tank with the undergravel

 

[rumblesushi]

why would undergravel be particularly good for characins? Becuase they are not diggers?

Go with a wet dry or a couple of eheim classics and a powerhead with prefilter.

I've had both, UGFs are not worth it, more hassle than their worth, I've had better looking water and lower nitrates since using eheims and powerheads with ceramic rings, bioballs, polyfilter/polywool etc

Especially a vampire tetra, they need good water.

 

[vanimate]

I used to use UGF's for years, but Ill never go back again. After moving some tanks that have been running for a couple of years, you wouldnt believe how much waste sits under the plates. I did weekly thorough gravel vacs religiously and thought my gravel beds were clean...WRONG!!! Do yourself a favor and lose the UGF's. $0.02.

 

[mickey85]

It's too late now, but I personally like both if you aren't going with live plants. I've tried standard, and reverse-flow UGF's. with the reverse flow, I've had great success, and no gunk under the plates. With the standard flow, I've found that sticking the siphon tube down one of the intakes gets rid of 75% of the garbage that accumulates under the plate.

When a tank is heavily stocked, I'd prefer using both an HOB (or canister) and a UGF. The benefit to a UGF filter is that there is really next to no flow. I used a UGF on a 30G tank with a pair of convicts and rocks too big for them to move easily. The plate stayed covered, none of the fry were sucked up, and the tank stayed crystal clear.

It depends. I will agree that HOB's are easiest, but I also feel that the sand bed isn't cleaned well enough unless you do heavy water changes and make sure you clean 100% of the substrate, which I don't find feasible with decorations and simple time constraints.

 

[Paul_MTS]

If you need a filter with litle to no flow use a sponge filter and have bare bottom or sand bottom, this way the sponge is mainly biological filtration picking up some rubbish but you can also easily see crap on the sand bed to pick up any visable poo.

UGF's are terribly out dated now and IMO have no place in the modern aquarium. At work all the tanks are run on UGF's and we have to strip an entire tank down any time there's a problem because of using gravel as the media.