a fellow fish keeper and myself recently had a heated debate over the use of under gravel filters, he swears by them and i refuse to use them. all of both of our tanks are in the same house, and if you were to look you can clearly see that the water in my tanks are clearer. i use large whisper brand filters that hang on the backs of the tanks and even my 150 gal with large oscars and convicts is crystal clear, i also vacuum my gravel and do a partial water change on all the tanks every other week. anyone else have an opinion on under gravel filters? i'd like to hear it.under gravel filter, good or bad?
- Thread starter phreakyfaerie
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a fellow fish keeper and myself recently had a heated debate over the use of under gravel filters, he swears by them and i refuse to use them. all of both of our tanks are in the same house, and if you were to look you can clearly see that the water in my tanks are clearer. i use large whisper brand filters that hang on the backs of the tanks and even my 150 gal with large oscars and convicts is crystal clear, i also vacuum my gravel and do a partial water change on all the tanks every other week. anyone else have an opinion on under gravel filters? i'd like to hear it.
I don't like them. They are a thing of the past. It traps waste materials under the plate and there is no way to get to it without tearing down the whole tank. It is so much easier to do gravel vacs and use a hob filter. And with cichlids moving gravel around it looks bad when you can see that white plastic on the bottom of the tank.
that was exactly the piont i was trying to get across to my friend, i think im gonna remove his undre gravel while he's at work and replace it with a back hung filter like my tanks have, i personally think the water will be crystal clear before he gets home, i also like that i can disassemble and clean my filters, and i do regularly
Unless you are the one that normally cleans his tanks, your friend may become irate at you for messing with his fish.
Ask him if you can convert just one tank so he can decide for himself.
Ask him if you can convert just one tank so he can decide for himself.
I used to use them, but they do trap alot more fish waste than youd care to have in your tank. I liked them at first since it gave me a few stable places for powerheads. There ok I think if you dont have a highly stocked tank.
his tanks are here because he works second shift and doesnt have enough time to maintain them and enjoy them, so i am the tank cleaner. i would never do something like that if i didnt know that it was ok
i also do allo the feeding and medicating that needs to be done, i basically have the final say on all the tanks
he tried keeping fish on his own at his house but wasn't able to keep anything alive untill the tanks came to my house, he has discus, and i have great luck with keeping these fish alive despite all i have heard about them being difficult to care for
he tried keeping fish on his own at his house but wasn't able to keep anything alive untill the tanks came to my house, he has discus, and i have great luck with keeping these fish alive despite all i have heard about them being difficult to care for
Here's something I posted recently concerning UGFs. It may sway you to change your opinion about their use:
I don't hear much anymore of people using UGF as all or part of their filtration. I used to use these filters solely in my racked tanks and still use them, in part, today. I learned a tip, from Dr. Spotte and Dr. Moe, on improving the performance of the UGF. It works so well that I've been using this technique for more than 2 decades.
Following the credo "Keep it simple", the big improvement on using a UGF is as follows. I place a bonded or stiffer pond filter pad between the UGF plates and the gravel. The pad offers up to 800% more surface area for beneficial bacteria to adhere to (as compared to gravel alone). The pad has other benefits in that it prevents gravel from clogging the UGF's slots, keeps sludge from getting under the plate, and offers an ideal anchoring medium for plant roots.
My most notable incident in using this setup was it's use in a 240 gallon bichir tank I ran for 2 years. The tank contained 17 of these heavy messy eaters. I also grew regular and dwarf onion plants and several anubias plants. For the 2 years I ran the tank, I performed gravel washes/water changes every 2 weeks. The tank also ran a magnum canister to a double bio-wheel. After 2 years, I had to tear the tank down to move. I was surprised when I removed the pad in that it was clean. The white side was even still white. There was no sludge under the filter plate. The onion plants had root bundles over a foot in diameter and the anubias all had 6" to 9" root spreads. There was never any odor to the tank and no discoloration to the water.
Needless to say, the performance of this UGF setup sold me on its use and I've been using it ever since.
I don't hear much anymore of people using UGF as all or part of their filtration. I used to use these filters solely in my racked tanks and still use them, in part, today. I learned a tip, from Dr. Spotte and Dr. Moe, on improving the performance of the UGF. It works so well that I've been using this technique for more than 2 decades.
Following the credo "Keep it simple", the big improvement on using a UGF is as follows. I place a bonded or stiffer pond filter pad between the UGF plates and the gravel. The pad offers up to 800% more surface area for beneficial bacteria to adhere to (as compared to gravel alone). The pad has other benefits in that it prevents gravel from clogging the UGF's slots, keeps sludge from getting under the plate, and offers an ideal anchoring medium for plant roots.
My most notable incident in using this setup was it's use in a 240 gallon bichir tank I ran for 2 years. The tank contained 17 of these heavy messy eaters. I also grew regular and dwarf onion plants and several anubias plants. For the 2 years I ran the tank, I performed gravel washes/water changes every 2 weeks. The tank also ran a magnum canister to a double bio-wheel. After 2 years, I had to tear the tank down to move. I was surprised when I removed the pad in that it was clean. The white side was even still white. There was no sludge under the filter plate. The onion plants had root bundles over a foot in diameter and the anubias all had 6" to 9" root spreads. There was never any odor to the tank and no discoloration to the water.
Needless to say, the performance of this UGF setup sold me on its use and I've been using it ever since.
I combine the 2, hang ons for mechanical filtration and UGFs for biological filtration and stability. It also helps if one or the other fails. UGFs are old school but so am I, they work very well if set up right but are designed for lighter stocking levels than are currently popular.
Phreakiefaerie,
if they were my tanks and you changed them I would not be happy, I would change them back and you would NEVER hear the end of it. If , on the other hand you were to just add a hang on (you can use one rated at less than the tanks volume) I would think it sweeet and thank you for it.
Phreakiefaerie,
if they were my tanks and you changed them I would not be happy, I would change them back and you would NEVER hear the end of it. If , on the other hand you were to just add a hang on (you can use one rated at less than the tanks volume) I would think it sweeet and thank you for it.