Under-Gravel Filter?

DieselJunki

DieselJunki

The Tomboy
Aug 20, 2009
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This may be the most noob question I ever ask but I just don't see how an under-gravel filter even works. Well atleast on this fish tank. It is a 2.5Gallon AllGlass Betta Mini-Bow I believe. It has an undergravel filter but I am unsure of how this even works if at all.

Here's a pic of the actually aquarium
IMG_0071.jpg


It just produces bubbles... I guess I am asking how in the heck do they actually work? Just seems like its a plastic grid with a tube that produces air bubbles...

Edit: Also does anyone know a light that I could possibly replace this light with because this light is all yellowish and makes the aquarium look like crap. I want a whiter colored bulb for it.
 
idk about the "bubbler" but get a light rated at 10000k or higher. The higher the k rating, the whiter the bulb.
 
I have never found the UG filters to be effective. Basically that air stone creates a vacuum, which sucks all the "crap" down into the bottom of the tank, through that plastic screen, and it just sits there. Or at least, that is what it did when I had a similar setup on a 2 gallon hex that I had for a betta at work way back when. Now I have a 5 gal tank with a whisper in-tank filter. Much more effective than the UG ever was. You can pick up a small in-tank or hob filter for your tank rather than the useless (in my opinion) UG filter. At least then you'll actually have media and such for bacteria to colonize on so that you're not constantly fighting the cycle.
 
go to walmart and get a CFL bulb, those are those swirly type bulbs that can screw into an incandescent fixture, as for the UG, get rid of it, get a hob, much more efficient and it will also be easier to grow plants.

good luck!
 
rainbowcharmer said:
I have never found the UG filters to be effective. Basically that air stone creates a vacuum, which sucks all the "crap" down into the bottom of the tank, through that plastic screen, and it just sits there. Or at least, that is what it did when I had a similar setup on a 2 gallon hex that I had for a betta at work way back when. Now I have a 5 gal tank with a whisper in-tank filter. Much more effective than the UG ever was. You can pick up a small in-tank or hob filter for your tank rather than the useless (in my opinion) UG filter. At least then you'll actually have media and such for bacteria to colonize on so that you're not constantly fighting the cycle.
Click to expand...
Thats what a gravel vac is for...it should be used on a tank regardless of the filtration anyways
.

Bacteria colonize surfaces, which would be the gravel in this case. There should be no "fighting" the cycle unless you are removing the gravel for some reason
 
You youngsters don't remember when UGs were the best biofilter available. Properly maintained they definitely work, but there are better options these days. Imo an in tank Whisper isn't one of them. Less surface area and the same limitations of submerged media. You want your biomedia out of the water. If you want to replace it get a biowheel type filter, since your tank is a bit small for a wet/dry.
 
l3lhsl3 said:
ug filter is bio
Click to expand...

And?

It effectively removes the waste from sight and with a weekly vac it should not become a overwhelming problem. Simple as that in my experience.

I ran my first tank for around a year doing straight UGF until I switched to reverse. They used to be the staple filters of the hobby but are now being replaced by fancier filtration models. Not saying they are not better or improvements but the OP doesn't have a whole lot of options given the tanks size :rolleyes:

If it aint broke...
 
I agree about the gravel vac, but the problem I had in that tank was that by the time I started vacuuming the gravel, most of the water was gone before I got much "crap" out from under the gravel. Perhaps my gravel was too thick, but I never was able to get much out of it before I ran out of water in that small of a setup. Maybe in a bigger setup this isn't such a problem? But that hex was just a nightmare. I like my 5 gallon a lot better, even with the in-tank whisper, which I realize is not perfect, but I like it better than the UG filter on the old 2 gal hex. It doesn't take long to run out of water in those 2 gal setups considering there is probably only 1.5 gallons of water actually in them after gravel and decorations. I normally took out 1 gal at a time, which left barely enough room for that betta to swim.
 
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