I have heard both, that one should have undergravel filter to other ppl who do not think its a good idea. 2 of my tanks have them and the rest do not. To be honest, I am not seeing much of a difference between them. I had a person tell me that with an undergravel filter you don't need to do water changes...that was kind of weird to me. I don't know if this has been talked about before or what not. With the undergravel filter, I still do the water changes just as frequently as I do with the other tanks. So what is everyone's take on this? Is a tank better with or without?
Undergravel filter
- Thread starter MommyJulia
- Start date
MommyJulia;1656660; said:
To say that one does not have to do water changes because he or she has an undergravel filter is false. You should still do your water changes and gravel siphoning like always.
My thought is that a tank with an UGF and no other filtration device is a bad idea. I think they are fine as long as you have a canister or HOB as well.
I find that if you use powerheads hooked up to UGF on reverse flow will work well with secondary filtration.
Like the others have said, the UGF's are ok, but only when used with a secondary filter like a HOB or canister. I personaly have not use a UGF in about 13 years and really see no need for them as long as you have good filtration otherwise. As far as not having to do water changes with a UGF, that is faulse, you still have to do the water changes because there is nothing in the tank that is removing the nitrates (unless you have live plants to help). I also have sand in all my tanks, and with sand the UGF's are useless.
I dislike undergravel filters because it requires you to break your tank down to get under the plates because they build up sludge. I have not tried to use them with a pump, so it might be different, but I'd just stick with a canister or hang on the back filter as those require less fish disturbance when you clean them out.
I like UGFs because they keep alot of crap from floating around and my water looks real clear. I have canister filters hooked up with mine and I have other filtration as well. My opinion on UGFs is, put alot of power behind them, have other filtration and aggressively vac your gravel. If youre willing to do that I think their great and you can avoid the problems they are notorious for.
maynardwix;1658346; said:
I agree. I thought it was very weird when he said you didn't have to change the water. I can see it helping with other things in the tank but not with nitrates.
thank you everyone for your input. I do have HOB on all the tanks, even on the ones with the undergravel filter. 