undergravel filter

[gomezladdams]

Interesting debate here.
I use some ugf filters.Its old school but no other filter gives more bang for the buck in terms of biological filtration.Visited a large tanganyican cichlid hatcery with hundreds of ugfs in use.Owner says they cant be beat for stable water parameters for those delicate hard to breed cichlids.He might know what he is talking about,he makes a living breeding fish.
I have several ac 110s and emp 400 filters in operation.The emp 400 is a much better built filter,and easier to clean.I use quilt batting to replace the pads on the filter when they get dirty,very cheap to maintain.The ac has slightly higher flow,but cleaning those big sponges is a major pita in my opinion,others like it.The 2 filters are usually available for about the same price,shop around.

 

[Bderick67]

youre better off with a HOB or canister.
in fact, youre just as well off with no filter at all.
while it will take longer for the bacteria to colonize, it will still grow in the gravel w/o the UGF tray, and you wont have all that rotting detrius under the plates raising the ammonia levels in the tank.

So how is it that detrius(assume you mean detritus) can get under the filter plates but the bacteria and micro organisms that breakdown and consume detritus can't?

 

[bitteraspects]

who said it cant?

 

[bitteraspects]

Interesting debate here.
I use some ugf filters.Its old school but no other filter gives more bang for the buck in terms of biological filtration.

absolutely false. a diy wet/dry filter is more cost effective, and much better all around.
UGF are absolutely useless

 

[Bderick67]

who said it cant?

Well that is what you're insinuating when you say it will be rotting under the filter plates and raising ammonia levels.

 

[bitteraspects]

try reading before responding. it helps

what i said was that it traps rotting debris under the plates raising the amount of availible ammonia in the tank. to battle this the bacteria colonies in the tank will continue to grow to balance out the amount of ammonia produced by the rotting waste.

its all back there if you care to have a read.

 

[Bderick67]

try reading before responding. it helps

what i said was that it traps rotting debris under the plates raising the amount of availible ammonia in the tank. to battle this the bacteria colonies in the tank will continue to grow to balance out the amount of ammonia produced by the rotting waste.

its all back there if you care to have a read.

And this differs from any other system how? Unless you are cleaning you HOB, canisters or any other mech filter on a daily basis you have the EXACT same thing happening. Trapped detritus will result in ammonia being added to the water column no matter what it's location is, right?

 

[Oddball]

It all boils down to maintenance. I never had clogged pads over my UGF since I did at least monthly (alot way back then) gravel washes. I checked the bottom of the tank (under the stand with a flashlight) periodically to check for buildup because of the size of my bio-load and it stayed clean with only a slight peppering of dust. There were never any large rotting masses causing ammonia spikes in the 2+ years I ran this setup.

 

[zpetrichko]

ughhhhhhh you all are convincing, and i really want to try this set up, i'm thankful everyone has experience with all different kinds. shoot maybe i'll use my extra 10 gallon for a sump now

 

[tcarswell]

Bitter Aspects. Would you like to share some real experience with under gravel filters? I use a few and with 2-3" of gravel vacuumed once a week during the water change. I popped the cap off of one of the unused up lift tube holders and tried siphoning out anything that might be under the plates. Nothing there. So do please share your experience with them.