Things I have observed with HOB filtration.

[Oughtsix]

Yeah but if you were good about gravel vacuuming and water changes they are a very simple and effective filter

I haven't vacuumed the gravel in my tanks in years... I have a dirt bottom gravel capped planted tanks so the poop is just fertilizer for the plants... but I do remember precisely what fish poop tastes like from the years of siphon vacuuming! ?

 

[Zanzag]

Oh I agree I don't either. My MTS army keeps my sand debris free.

 

[pops]

Whatever happened to those under gravel filters? Guess they were not great either?

I had one on my 180, 2 pumps and 2 bulkheads in the bottom of the tank. about 1600 gbh between the 2. I ran in reverse. flow coming up through the gravel rather pulled down. 3 layers of gravel starting with small , then larger then largest on top, about 4" thick. worked great for keeping the stuff on top of the gravel but still had vacuum every water change, here is a vid showing the stand-ups with large sponge filters on them.

 

[FINWIN]

On my 225 setup I have two custom internal filters and 3 HOB aquaclear 110s. On the HOBs I have the extension tubes with sponge prefilters. Each hob has bagged bio ceramic (4) and one bag of phosguard. On the top of the "sandwich" I lay custom filter pads for mechanical filtration. During water changes I just remove the filter pads and rinse. All bio media is untouched. Put 'em back on, place the tops back and its good to go. On the corner filters I have power heads directed right at the waterfall overflow. Haven't vaccumed the sand in months, no problem and no detrius buildup. Here and there I scoop up Oscar poop with a net but that's pretty rare. The food and poop breaks up and goes right into the filters. Also helps to have two sizeable syno catfish to clean up extra pellets.

 

[celebrist]

Oh I agree I don't either. My MTS army keeps my sand debris free.

Ditto here