Undergravel jets

[fwiffo]

hey- any of you guys run an undergravel jet system? if you do, do you make like a racetrack around the bottom of the tank with the pvc pipe or do you put caps on the ends of the pipe laying on the bottom?
also, what gph is good for it? i was thinking with mine something in the range of 4-6 times per hour tank turnover. so, like if i had a 75 gallon tank, i would need a powerhead or pump that does 300- 450 gph. what works best for you? faster or lower flow rates?

 

[Toby_H]

I’ve made several UGJ set ups…
　
I’ve made some (at least 3) that were “racetrack” or “closed loop” style. The theory here was to regulate the pressure throughout the system than have branches coming off the main system to feed the jets. After countless adjustments to each of them, all of them proved inefficient…
　
I’ve also made several (more than 3) that were smaller system with 2~4 ‘jets’ each. I was designed it to balance the out put per jet by making each jet equidistant from the pump with the same amount of bends. I targeted 100~150 gph per jet. These turned out pretty good and proved efficient. The problem I had with them is the pump was hard to hide and the pipes were commonly exposed by digging fish.
　
　
I’ve since retired all of them and have fond that Koralia power heads achieve the same thing but are much simpler to set up, easier to hide and have no pipes to worry about exposing.

 

[fwiffo]

that's cool man. thanks for the input!

 

[nfored]

Here is the style I made. It worked well had great cirucation and the fish loved riding the jet up, and then swimming against it back down.

All branches are 1"pvc while all jets are 3/4 pvc that have been flared out like a nosle.

View attachment tank1.jpg

View attachment arm1.jpg

 

[turtlesrock]

mine are not necessarily "jets".. but heres what i did= i have a sump on my 100 gallon tank and i the out flow was really strong so i decided to put my outflow tube into the under gravel filter.. so now all the clean water that come from the sump goes down the UGF pipe and pushes poop and other waste out of the gravel which keeps the bottom of the taNK CLEAR OF ANY DIRT! if you have any questions about this please ASK!!!