is the under gravel filter good or not?
10g
3 guppies(1 male,2female)
3 cories
2 ghost shrimp
5g
1 betta
10g
3 guppies(1 male,2female)
3 cories
2 ghost shrimp
5g
1 betta
under gravel filter
- Thread starter bleach_freak
- Start date
some people swear by them, but i have not found them to be worth their cost compared to other filtration you could get for the same money. it also depends on the setup, but i dont plan on getting UGF ever again.
i used to have an UGF on a 55 gal marine, back in the early 90's, and it worked OK. Most people now use them in conjunction with another type of filter.
my UGF did its job OK, was very quiet, but was messy. Every other year or so I would have to take out all the gravel and clean out all the gunk under the filter. There was a LOT of it and it was nasty. Some people with burrowing fish (elongated loaches, for example) "lose" their fish and find it living under there later on.
From what I hear, a Reverse UGF is better. Instead of pulling water down through the gravel, it pushes it out from under the gravel, I think. Thereby eliminating the Gunk Factor.
Check out this article
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37152
It's about goldfish, but it goes over the various types of filters.
my UGF did its job OK, was very quiet, but was messy. Every other year or so I would have to take out all the gravel and clean out all the gunk under the filter. There was a LOT of it and it was nasty. Some people with burrowing fish (elongated loaches, for example) "lose" their fish and find it living under there later on.
From what I hear, a Reverse UGF is better. Instead of pulling water down through the gravel, it pushes it out from under the gravel, I think. Thereby eliminating the Gunk Factor.
Check out this article
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37152
It's about goldfish, but it goes over the various types of filters.
I like mine, but with many new filters out there you don't need one but Its not going to hurt your filteration.
I have mine on a 55, hooked up to a Magnum 350, the filter sucks the water right out of the air lift tube, works great!
Some people swear by them, and others swear at them.
I have mine on a 55, hooked up to a Magnum 350, the filter sucks the water right out of the air lift tube, works great!
Some people swear by them, and others swear at them.
In general, all my tanks have UGF or RUGF, along with other filters. I have Mag 350's that run to both styles. As I look around, guess I have one of the QT that is just UGF with air stones, but I usually bring over a sponge from a tank when I use it.
Love 'em -- Hate 'em does seem to be the standard. Never did understand the supposed issue of breaking down the tank and cleaning under the plates. Have never experienced the need, could be an issue of effective tank maintenance, over feeding and not enough driving force for those with problems.
Love 'em -- Hate 'em does seem to be the standard. Never did understand the supposed issue of breaking down the tank and cleaning under the plates. Have never experienced the need, could be an issue of effective tank maintenance, over feeding and not enough driving force for those with problems.
Hi all,
I had the same question and thanks for the posts. I am new to this hobby and just got a 25g tank with a HOB power filter. Thinking of getting an UGF and powerhead on top of that.
Aside from filtration performance, would you guys agree that having an UGF would reduce the frequency one need to clean the gravels? Also, what of maintenance is needed for a UGF? I certainly don't want the need to remove all the gravels to clean the UGF but do hope to have a way to reduce the frequency to clean the gravels.
Thanks.
I had the same question and thanks for the posts. I am new to this hobby and just got a 25g tank with a HOB power filter. Thinking of getting an UGF and powerhead on top of that.
Aside from filtration performance, would you guys agree that having an UGF would reduce the frequency one need to clean the gravels? Also, what of maintenance is needed for a UGF? I certainly don't want the need to remove all the gravels to clean the UGF but do hope to have a way to reduce the frequency to clean the gravels.
Thanks.
In my experience, the UGF does not reduce the need to clean gravel. I would siphon regularly and come up with all kinds of crap.
As Bob said, there are many who feel the need to dismantle the UGF in order to clean it is superfluous. However, I guess out of curiosity I did it ONCE and could never get the picture of all that thick red gunk out of my mind, so was compelled to clean it every year or two after that. I suppose if you don't know it's there (or don't mind) and your filtration is still working, then there's no need to clean it out. But I'm kind of a compulsive cleaner, at least where my fishies are concerned
The multiple types of filtration you are thinking of would be great! That way, your tank would be super-clean, lots of circulation, and if one filter breaks you have "back-ups" going.
As Bob said, there are many who feel the need to dismantle the UGF in order to clean it is superfluous. However, I guess out of curiosity I did it ONCE and could never get the picture of all that thick red gunk out of my mind, so was compelled to clean it every year or two after that. I suppose if you don't know it's there (or don't mind) and your filtration is still working, then there's no need to clean it out. But I'm kind of a compulsive cleaner, at least where my fishies are concerned
The multiple types of filtration you are thinking of would be great! That way, your tank would be super-clean, lots of circulation, and if one filter breaks you have "back-ups" going.
An UGF does not reduce the need for Water changes or gravel vacs. With all the solid waste being pulled down into the gravel, it will sit there and rot producing nitrates. This leads to excessive algae growth as well as other problems for the fish. Read the articles linked. I can assure you any posts by daveedka will be highly informative and are 99.999999999999999999999999999% accurate every time if not more. He is an advocate of the RUGF system coupled with alternate filtration such as HOB. This way, solid waste is pushed up out of the gravel, and cought in the other filter. While this does not completly excuse you from doing gravel vacs, it is a great help in maintaining the best possible water quality for our fish.