Your UGF experiences

reptileguy2727 said:
A canister filter is a closed system. The water is FORCED through the media. This means that every bit of water goes through the media. In HOBs and UGFs the water will go over or around the media, or in UGFs one spot will become clogged with debris and the water then rushes through another area, reducing how effectively the water is cleaned. This is mainly an issue with mechanical filtration, especially fine mechanical filtration and polishing.
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I've owned canisters with media bypass, and I've owned HOBs and UG (OE-RFUG specifically) with zero bypass. You are making generalizations that are not even close to being universal. Not everyone with a canister is using top-of-the-line Eheim canisters with zero bypass, and likewise not everyone with UG is using a crappy air-driven undergravel and vacuuming once every few months.
 
reptileguy2727 said:
"all sand compact"
This is not true. The Estes' Marine Sand I use does not compact.

No, my experience does not make anything fact. But it says a lot, and with no real evidence to the contrary there isn't anything else to say. If you want primary research articles out of scientific articles I don't have them.

When I say more natural I mean when the options are bare, gravel, or sand the sand is the natural option. This doesn't mean you have to go to the Amazon River and collect sand for your Amazonian tank for it to be natural, it means in reference to grain size sand is more natural than gravel.

At this point it is obvious that some people simply won't move on past UGFs and gravel no matter what until they have severe problems in their tanks they can't blame on anything else. So I will not waste my or their time on this any longer.

Anyone interested in some more information on sand, my experiences, etc. just give me a PM, I will be happy to help you.
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this is including yourself. you claim that your "experience" makes it so that sand is the only substrate anyone can use. this is just based upon bad experiences you have had with UGF's and gravel because you allowed maintenance to become lazy, not because of the design of the filter.

if your experience is so valuable, then dont dismiss others' experience either.

and yes, all sand does compact. if your sand is large enough so that it does not compact and allows free movement of water, it is gravel.
 
Look guys I don't want to get into your guy's debates. But I basically have only a few things to say. From what I've learned over the years (I'm only 20 haha) is that as long as your tank isn't overstocked and you do regular maintance with your UGF and any filter for that matter, then most likely you are not going to have to many problems. People can go years (as some has claimed) without problems with UGF. Some people do have problems because they are un-educated or lazy. Either way any of you can't say that one thing is better than another substrate/equipment. There is a time and place for everything. It all depends on your situation.

I would think that a RUGF would be good for the bacteria simply because you are pushing water and oxygen from under the gravel giving that bottom gravel a chance to have water circulation and help in the biological filtering.

It doesn't matter what kind of setup you have (unless its just totally wrong) if you do proper maintance, your going to be ok. If you run into a problem, as a aquarist you should be able to spot that problem and react properly to fix that problem. I know there are some cases where major accidents happen, but you just got to learn from those accidents at the same time becomming a better and more educated aquarist.

Please don't argue with me, I'm not here to fight with anyone. This is just my 2 cents. Thank you for reading.

--Matt
 
Matt101905 said:
Look guys I don't want to get into your guy's debates. But I basically have only a few things to say. From what I've learned over the years (I'm only 20 haha) is that as long as your tank isn't overstocked and you do regular maintance with your UGF and any filter for that matter, then most likely you are not going to have to many problems. People can go years (as some has claimed) without problems with UGF. Some people do have problems because they are un-educated or lazy. Either way any of you can't say that one thing is better than another substrate/equipment. There is a time and place for everything. It all depends on your situation.

I would think that a RUGF would be good for the bacteria simply because you are pushing water and oxygen from under the gravel giving that bottom gravel a chance to have water circulation and help in the biological filtering.

It doesn't matter what kind of setup you have (unless its just totally wrong) if you do proper maintance, your going to be ok. If you run into a problem, as a aquarist you should be able to spot that problem and react properly to fix that problem. I know there are some cases where major accidents happen, but you just got to learn from those accidents at the same time becomming a better and more educated aquarist.

Please don't argue with me, I'm not here to fight with anyone. This is just my 2 cents. Thank you for reading.

--Matt
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exactly
 
ilikewomen said:
tilapia
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I forgot to mention, I have seen on Discovery channel about a fish that does eat feces, but I forgot the name plus I don't think it was a aquarium fish.
 
reptileguy2727 said:
My articles are written based on thirteen years of experience in the hobby, the experiences of all the fishkeepers I have ever communicated with, my knowledge as a Biologist, and general science. They are not based on unsupported opinion.
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Folks....lets not turn this into one persons experience dominating a thread, and keep the thread to what the thread OP asked. If you have experience, then state it but not force "an opinion" on everyone else. People will make up their own minds, no matter how many times we state something....

Lets all just chill huh..

Thanks.. :)
 
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Love them super stable and a good back up if your power goes out just have a battery powered air pump on hand . Scientifically they are excellent as well.,
 
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