New 55 set-up questions

[Que]

Is it OK to use an RUGF with plants? If so what is maintenance like? Will the roots foul up the RUGF? Will I have to tear apart my tank every so often?
Do you have to tear apart any planted tank every so often?
What would be the best filter type and substrate structure for a low light tank?
Can low light plants grow in sand? I know they need ferts.

Q

[wesknox]

I'm not crazy about UGF's, "R" or otherwise. I've never had much luck with them either with or without plants. I did use them once where I had a lot of plants and my stand was open on the bottom and you could see the roots completely filling the UGF space. An interesting idea to me would be to experiment with circulating nutrients (aka hydroponically) in the UGF space but not through the water column (i.e. pumping very slow flow of nutrients down one lift tube and out the other lift tube. This would have an advantage of providing nutrients to root-feeding plants and yet not give algae the access to either ferts or light. Just a crazy dream I had one night, I guess.

One "theory" about UGFs is that they tend to move nutrients past roots too fast for them to be incorporated successfully by some plants. My guess is that many low-light plants tend to be slower growing and consequently not in such demand for either CO2 or fertilizers. But that's just my gut feeling as I don't have a lot of direct experience to quote from.

My UGF tank eventually "plugged" due to roots and detritus, rendering the filter useless. An RUGF is going to put nutrients (that would normally collect in the root zone) back into the water column and from my experience will create algae problems. Regular water changes can mediate this somewhat. I eventually pulled the lift tubes and plugged holes with gravel and went to a dual HOT filter which worked OK. I have cannister filter and 1000gph pump which keeps things pretty clean and still allows minimal substrate "messing" which has always caused me algae problems.

[Que]

Thanks for the reply. I was having second thoughts on any kind of Under gravel filter reverse or otherwise.

So should my substrate be flourite or some other fancy gravel or will low light plants work out OK in sand with ferts of course?

Q

[wesknox]

Q,

I'm sure there are a number of ways to setup an effective substrate. I've almost always had gravel of approx 1/8" size. In my earlier days I used sand which I never had luck with plants. The Fluorite was pretty well reviewed by those who used it so I bought about 8 bags for the 100g I originally set it up with...but it was pretty expensive. I think I paid around $200 for the bags and shipping. I've had good luck with it but there are a lot of others who have had as good or better luck with other substrates. Good luck with it.