Biologically seeding undergravel filter

[dougall]

I guess we are sure the OP will no longer return and post?

Personally, I am happy with a single form of filtration, most all tanks here use canister filters, down to a 10g, there's a 9g or so that uses an internal filter, and some small tanks that use sponge filters.

so long as water moves, any surface in the aquarium will provide biofiltration, and I'm totally cool with that!

 

[FreshyFresh]

Doug. No UGFs?

 

[dougall]

Not since I ran an OEUGF on a planted 72g bowfront that was planted and lo tech.

It did work well, but these days I use finer substrate that would slip under the plates.

Not to mention the 4 large powerheads running the filter were kind of ugly and took a decent amount of tank space between them and the prefilter.

If I had something to do in the future that an UGF would be good for, I wouldn't hesitate in trying one out, normal or reverse flow. I have actually pondered running CO2 to a RFUGF via the air venturi on the powerhead, and seeing how gravel would diffuse that stuff.

But right now I'm under Dr's orders to not touch tanks, so I do a little tinkering here and there, but I'm not up to doing something that could need breaking down an entire tank or any sort of experimentation.

I really do think that mixing older and newer technologies might work out well here.. for example using a Hamburg Mattenfilter as a prefilter, with a powerhead driving a UGF behind.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I like your idea with the Matten filter / UGF combo and hope the Doc's orders reverse for you soon!

 

[dougall]

I am not expecting Dr's orders to change any time soon.... I am more likely to bend them more and more

 

[fishorama]

Sorry, dougall, I'm not good with acronyms, what's OEUGF? (all I can think is Old English ATM, lol) I like the idea of mattenfilters, sorta vertical UGFs but maybe hard to clean? That's my issue with both.

 

[dougall]

Oops...

It's supposed to be OERUGF- Over engineered, reverse-flow under gravel filter... I.E. way more flow than you actually need, which in theory ensures that any detritus stays out of the gravel and in the water column for pre filters or mechanical filters; for example I used, from memory and may not be accurate due to age, 4×1160 GPH powerheads in a 72g tank.

Don't blame me for the acronyms, I just use them.

as for cleaning, you can clean prefilters by removing and rinsing in old tank water.

mattenfilters are a little different, you can clesn by vacuuming them during waterchanges, or remove them if you think ahead and have something to keep substrate in place.

If you listen to Dr. Stefan Tanner from swiss tropicals, He compares different sorts of filter materials, And I think touches on maintenance too.

I do know Rachel currently uses a corner mattenfilter in her 150g hillstream tank... so flow isnt an issue there, doesnt seem to be getting clogged or anything.. maybe dig around her youtube channel or facebook page to see if she mentions maintenance (or just ask her about it)