RFUG - what powerhead?

G

GT4TY Brome

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Jan 8, 2005
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I was hoping someone out there could help me with an annoying question that has been bugging me for some time.

I'm not exactly an expert at fishkeeping but i have been doing it for a couple of years, so know the basic stuff. I started on a small, basic 30 litre tank, moving to a Juwel Rekord 70, then a Sicce Moby **** (80 litres), and now I'm at a BiUbe. The BiUbe is fine and has never given me any problems. New fish have died in it occasionally but older fish are still there, so must be because the tank was too 'intoxicating' for the new fish, or something like that.

Anyway, I've started making a list of all the equipment I want to buy to get with my new tank (i'm nowhere near getting one yet, but i'll make my dad see sense one day...). This is the list so far:

36 x 15 x 12 plain glass tank
(or something around that size)

Fluval 204
(I've researched into this a bit and this filter seems to be a good comprimise between price and performance - can anyone offer any opinions on their filters of similar size?)

200W Heater, standard gravel, ornaments, etc.

Maybe some live plants
I've been too afraid to use them so far, as I don't like wasting money on something I will just lose as soon as I get it. Even though, I like the look of some people's well planted aquariums

Maybe a DIY Fluidized Sand Bed Filter once the tank is matured a bit - these look reasonably easy to make and would accompany a RFUG beautifully

(RF) Undergravel filter

The main point of this post was to ask about the RFUG. I understand the basics of the RFUG, and how they're set up, but I wondered what powerhead you would use. In the U.K. we can't get cheap(ish) reverse flow powerheads (similar to your Marineland PH's), so would you be able to use a regular powerhead? If you use pipes and connectors would it be possible to connect the powerhead outlet to the lift tube of the UG (and obviously put a prefilter on the intake), instead of the PH sucking backwards? Because I would need 2 PH's for UG plates to fit a 36 incher, I was looking for the cheaper option of using two lower rated powerheads and hooking them up as described above.

Has anyone got good pics of their RUFG? Any maybe pics of anyones tank with a spec. similar to the one mentioned above?

Sorry for the massive post but I haven't been able to ask anyone on advice about this stuff (LFS's are crap), and had a bit to get off my chest.

Any help would be appreciated,
Dan.
 
With some ingenuity and the right fittings from your hardware store, along with sponge filters, I see no problem with converting any power head to a RFUG system.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. That's the answer i was looking for. I knew that certain powerheads could perform reverse flow (Marineland RF kits, and normal powerheads with a RF switch), but i was wondering whether it was possible for a powerhead to be connected 'backwards' to an UGF.

If anyone has any pics of their RFUG (or UGF...) could you post them for some ideas for me?
 
Just a note on the Fluval 204. If you can find one get it now. They are going much cheaper (at least in North America) since the next generation 5 series is now out (205). You may like the 5 series better though so check out the differences.

I use a 304 in my tank and don't seem to have any issues with it.
 
Thanks for the advice. I wasn't actually sure what the difference between the '4' and the '5' series was, other than being black instead of grey. I think the flow rates are slightly better, too.

I've looked into these types of cannister filters and there seems to be individual opinions from different people. Some say Eheim, other say Rena, etc. I just think that they all look the same, but i've started liking the Fluval because it gives you three media compartments without having to fork out for the top of the range model (i.e. the Rena Filstar XP1 only has one, the XP2 has two, etc.). Also, it has the flexible hoses and other nice features.

Just wondering, has anyone used those Hydor rotating sponge things on their tanks? I like the idea of having as much biological filtration as possible without spending too much money (hence the RFUG and the FSB), and these look like a little, less-efficient version of the 'bio-wheel'.
 
Another quick question for anyone who has/had an UGF or RFUG: do you have to use both uplift tubes if you want to make a RFUG? i.e. do you have to use two powerheads on a tank that is about 30 - 36" long and needs an UG plate with two uplift pipes? Would it be O.K. in getting one uplift tube (or capping the other one off), and using a single, stronger powerhead, like the Aquaclear 802?
 
Depending on the flow your fish can handle, it is okay to block one off with a cap.
 
GT4TY Brome said:
Thanks for the quick reply. That's the answer i was looking for. I knew that certain powerheads could perform reverse flow (Marineland RF kits, and normal powerheads with a RF switch), but i was wondering whether it was possible for a powerhead to be connected 'backwards' to an UGF.

If anyone has any pics of their RFUG (or UGF...) could you post them for some ideas for me?
Click to expand...

The reverse flow kit for the Marineland powerheads consist of three parts:
A 90 degree elbow that attaches the output of the powerhead to a 1" uplift tube (thereby connecting it backwards to the UGF).
A ~10" prefilter sponge (hollow cylinder).
A ~10" plastic strainer that attaches to the powerhead intake and holds the sponge.

The assembled unit can be seen at:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/images/presentation/P10900.jpg

As shown in that picture, the sponge is where the uplift tube would go in a traditional power-head driven UGF. The power heads actually sit adjacent to (rather than on top of) the uplift tubes in the RFUGF configuration.

We used the over-engineered variant of the RFUGF in our 75 gallon tank (48"x18" footprint), so we opted to go with 4 penguin 1140's and are happy with the results. The 1140 is rated for 300GPH each, but in reality has a much lower output when pushing through the right angle, filterfloss, and gravel. For the most part most "stuff" (plant parts, flake food, etc) stops sinking and starts going back up about 1" above the gravel - so we only do a quick vacuum every 2-3 water changes (weeks).

We just set up a RFUGF in a 35 gallon hex (23" x 20" footprint) using two penguin 660R kits (includes RF kit) - rated at 170 GPH each. So far it seems to be working ok despite the smaller powerheads and thicker gravel (both the 75 and 35 have ~25 lbs of gravel in them).

One of the benifits of RFUGF is bringing the highly oxygenated water (near the surface) down to the lower levels... but we discovered early on it was a PITA during water changes, because we had to keep unhooking the powerheads to remove the air. We've since inverted all our powerheads so that the powerhead itself is down near the gravel, and the sponge goes up from it. This made it easier to remove the sponges for cleaning, and allows us to leave the RFUGF running while we do water changes.

Another thing to keep in mind is the heat given off by the powerheads. Our 75 stays at room temperature + ~7 degrees (F) without a heater. (We also use a fluval 404 canister, which shouldn't add any heat.)

I do suggest a canister/HOB to help with mechanical filtration though - having the intake just above the gravel to remove the hovering debris seems to work nicely.

I'll can try to remember to take some pictures of the setup if you want.

Edit: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/ugfilters.html is a link to RTR's OE-RFUGF setup that we followed for our 75. (We used one layer of filterfloss.)
 
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