The problem with UG is that it gets a large build up of mulm and waste under it and if not properly kept up it can turn anoroebic and kill off all your fish and system.
My undergravel filter isn't getting anything!
- Thread starter reptileguy112
- Start date
+1 well said.
You need powerhead an more gravel. I'd say 3" will be best. An that's pretty much all there is to it. I've got 2-301 powerheads an 3" of gravel in my 55 an with proper cleaning every 10 days or so my water stays just as clean as my 125 with a fx5.
Throw the undergravel filter away.............It is a 80's thing.............Only Star Wars and my front bangs is what I have of the 80's...............40g, stick an AC70 on it................AQua Clears ave the best mechanical filtration for the buck...............It is freshwater, so no real biggie on messing with chemical/biological filtration..............
Hello; I used the UGF's for several decades with maintance varying from essentially only keeping an air pump running to vaccuming the gravel and changing water from time to time. For the first years the common practice at the time was to set up a tank and do nothing to the UGF. I ran UGF's only for a number of years and eventually added various HOB type filters.
The HOB's were added to help physically remove the detritus. The early HOB's were air powered and thus very weak, but they were what was avaiable.
I now run a UGF in a tank (Set up about three years) with a modern HOB. I also now vaccuum the gravel on a regular basis.
In all the years and many tanks with UGF's I never had one go anaerobic and kill any fish. There were a few times when my air pump would fail and a tank would have only the HOB running for some weeks untill a replacement was had and still no issues.
If anyone has had the personal experience of a UGF going bad and killing fish, perhaps they will post the experience.
I to kept them (UG) the first 7-10 yrs in the hobby back in the 80s and my point is no matter how much you vacuum the gravel you will always geta sludge build up under the plates. All it takes is a dead spot under a rock or some decoration to turn and cause havoc. Thus The reason I said kept up meaning maintenance. No matter what type of filtration you use there is always a sludge whether it be canisters, HOBs or sumps. The key is maintenance.
I agree they are quite functional there just is better types of filtration now days with easier maintenance.
Hello; In the past when I would break down a tank that had run on UGF's there would sometimes be a buildup under the plates. Most times the area under the plates was mainly clear. As I learned and began to understand to reduce feeeding amounts the build ups became less.
I also have grown live rooted plants in most all tanks and have found the roots into the area below the plates. I suspect these roots helped.
Another thing I eventually started doing was to siphon the gravel during water changes. At first I would simply have a siphon hose with a large enough diameter to pass the gravel in use. I would siphon an area of gravel with the water into a bucket and then replace the dirty gravel with cleaned gravel. I would then rinse the dirty gravel so it could be put back into the tank at the next water change. I now have a siphon with a large barrel leading into a small tube. This allows me to siphon the water and detritus out and leave the gravel behind. I do this sort of siphoning on tanks with the UGF and those without. My take now is that the use of an external filter with replaceable/cleanable media coupled with gravel siphoning during water changes go a long way to reduce the build up of detritus/mulm.
I set up a 29 gallon tank with a survivor UGF in response to threads such as this one. I run a small HOB as well. It has been three years or so now. When I do siphon the gravel it yields some detritus much the same as my other tanks without the UGF. In fact, thou it is hard to be sure, I believe the tank with the UGF seems to produce less detritus than the tank without.
When the power filters eventually became reliable enough, I did go away from the UGF's for a time. The first power filters were prone to lose siphon quite often and would break down a lot. It was good to have a UGF run on a bubbler in place, which saved many tanks during those decades. The power filters are much better now. What I have found is that tanks can be run either way. Also that A UGF equiped tank still does just fine as they did during the decades of the 60's and 70's.
One other question. In these threads it is usually stated that the UGF type filters are difficult to maintain. I do not follow this as I do not know of any thing that needs to be done to them once they are installed. Once they are in place under the gravel there is nothing to do to them. What is this maintence you are refering to? The maintence I perform is the same on all tanks. I siphon the gravel during water changes and clean/replace the filter media of the external filters.
Hello; Perhaps we are still discussing a different type of filter. The UGF does not pull anything up, nor does it physically remove material from a tank.
If you want something to physically remove (filter out) material from the tank, you will need to add a filter system such as a HOB (hang on back) type, canister, box filter or such. I run HOB type filters in adition to the UGF type filter.
You can run just the HOB stlye filters only if you wish. I have done so and have a 55 gallon set up that way now. I also run a bubbler airstone with it. The HOB will circulate water and pull it thru removeable filter media. The media will trap much of the detritus over timeand can be cleaned or replaced. I also do regular substrate cleaning with a simple gravel vac. The HOB is likely the least expensive type of external filter available.
The UGF type filter plates are more for biological filtration. By that I mean the water does a gentle flow thru the substrate into the plate of the UGF and then back out of the discharge tube. The substrate should likely be small gravel (pea size of less)(I use gravel about bb size) so the water can move thru. Sand it often too fine for a UGF. If You use only a UGF the small detritus will settle into the spaces of the gravel while the larger detritus will settle on the surface of the gravel.
The biological function happens as the water moves thru the gravel and bathes the benefical bacteria (bb) with water loaded with ammonia from fish waste. With a UGF the mass of the gravel can hold colonies of bb and the gentle flow greated thru the gravel will bring the ammonia into contact with the bb.
For example, the tank I now have set up with a UGF will be in good shape for an extended time in the event the HOB fails. HOB and other external systems have failed many times for me over the years. The UGF run by an air pump has saved tanks many times. You can run a tank on a UGF only for weeks or longer if needed.
Even if you decide to go with an HOB or other external power filter, the gravel will still need to be siphoned. There will also likely be some detritus/mulm buildup in the tank in low flow spots. I have set up multiple power filters with jets of water pointed in various directions to move things around, but some stuff always gets into the gravel and must be siphoned out. I now run one HOB with a bubbler for circulation in the tank without a UGF. I also have live rooted plants and MTS snails to help with maintaining the balance in the tank. Some active bottom fish also help to move stuff around so the HBO can pick it up. In the 55 I have several cory catfish and kuhli loaches.
Good luck
