why sand? Why no undergravel?

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Brooklynella

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 13, 2006
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LI, NY
I'm returning to the hobby after a long hiatus so i'm a bit rusty!
Why sand?:confused: I don't get it. Sure, there are instances when sand is desirable but for the most part, isn't it difficult to keep clean?
Which leads me to my next question...
What happened to undergravel filters? Is it the sand??:D Again, there are instances when using an undergravel filter isn't practical but for the most part, you can't beat an undergravel for biological filtration.
I'm going to set up a tank in the coming weeks and I can't imagine not having an undergravel filter; unless I use sand which I can't imagine doing because it's difficult to keep clean. See my dilema?
 
First of all Under gravel filters (UGF) are a thing of the past pretty much, they are just old technology. For the best biologicial filtration you either want a Wet/dry filter sytem or a Canister. UGF's will keep your substrate and tank dirtier, it pulls all the waste to the substrate of down into the plate and there it sits decomposing, producing more waste and Nitrates in your water. With any other filter you can tank out the media easily and clean it there its not breaking down in your tank. UGF's you cant unless you want to fighting digging the whole thing up and placing it back in.

Sand is really no different than any other substrate. But you do have to worry if you get it too deep cause it will build up pockets of toxic gases that when they finally escape can be very harmfull to your fish. To get around that all you have to do is stir the sand frequently. Keeping it clean is really simple, just use your gravel vac and hover above the sand and pull the waste right off the top.

Hope this helps
 
hmt321;622848; said:
I have seen reverse undergravel filters run through a canister, i always thought that that would be a good way 2 go
Click to expand...

Nice thing about this is it help debris some settling on the bottom, keeps it up in the water column for your filters to pull it in.

Another thing that is a pain in the hind end is that if you have any sort of fish that likes to dig, then they are always digging up your plate.
 
And don't forget Bio-wheels. They also smoke UG Filters.
 
i have six tanks, two of them are sand........i think sand is a whole lot easier to maitain because you just have to vacuum the debris right of the top.........just personal opinion .......
 
Sand isn't hard to maintain at all. UGFs are just old and outdate and won't work with sand because it can't pull the water through. Any fish that digs will move the gravel and ruin the UGF. With sumps you can stock heavier because more water and more surface area and more bio filtration. The wet/dry works very similar to a UGF, constantly having water move over a substrate for BB. However, since it is both wet and dry, more air gets in and the BB are more efficient.
 
I keep an undergravel on my newish overstocked 55 community with 2 reverse flow powerheads. I gravel vac every other month and I get a lot less detrius out of the gravel than I do when I vac my 33 with a cannister filter which I vac out every couple of weeks. Although now that I have a healthy community of malaysian trumpet snails that tanks vacs are getting cleaner and cleaner.

I also use Penguin HOBs on both of those tanks.


It all boils down to stock and prefrence. They're still a decent choice. Depending on what kind of tank you're setting up.


If I had the space to set up a 180 redbelly tank I'd run sand and use a submerged spraybar to blow the uneaten food across the tank to be picked up by my intakes.
 
UGFs are old, but they work great. I would say that most of time you would be hard pressed to find more bio in our filters than in our substrate. There is a reason that most LFS still run UGFs in their tanks.
 
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