Opinions on Undergravels

adonai · 12-27-2006, 05:44 PM

Whats everyones opinion on UG? good, bad, indifferent......I have used them for years but I have heard a bunch of people saying they are outdated.......Particularly at the LFS's......I have a gaggle of power heads and like to use them for circulation so for that reason alone I like em but do anyof you think its really doing that much for the biological filtration.

BJP · 12-27-2006, 08:09 PM

If I can remember which thread it's in Tommy just put up a bunch of info on UG filters.

I don't think I'll ever own one again myself. If you made me by gunpoint, I'd have to try reverse flow. A couple powerheads pushing prefiltered water down the tubes where it rises up through the gravel hopefully keeping anything from sinking in. In that setup extracting the oxygen rich water from the surface while prefiltering the water you should maximize your gravels bio ability while avoiding any chance of clogging of the gravel bed. If you already have the powerheads and you already have the UG it might be worth tinkering with.

BJP · 12-27-2006, 08:12 PM

Found it.

http://www.fishtankforums.com/4-fish...m-missing.html

adonai · 12-27-2006, 09:27 PM

Thanx BJP and Tommy......Kinda what I was thinking......There is a certian LFS here that the guy is like an aquarium jedi.......He is the go too guy for cichlids and salt ( as a matter of fact thats the name of his store) Who told me the problem is more like all the fish poop that goes underneath that not noticed and causes a high nitrate promblem if too much accumalates and doesnt get taken care of..........I do remember seeing something about how to clean that out so I feell the benifits for me outwiegh the negitives........I think.......

Tommy Gun · 12-28-2006, 02:55 PM

adonai · 12-28-2006, 05:30 PM

Well its up and running........U.G. with a powerhead on each end......Fluval 305 on one side and a penguin 300 on the otherside. There seems to be alot of water movement but Im sceptical the power heads will be strong enough to keep it clean under there.......Im gonna look into getting a couple to rerse the flow.....I like that Idea.

BJP · 12-28-2006, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Im sceptical the power heads will be strong enough to keep it clean under there.......

If the tanks on an actual aquarium stand you should be able to look under the tank with a flashlight and see. I've spent many hours with a garden hose shoved down one UG uplift tube and a gravel vacuum jammed down over the other while watching with a flashlight from below. Once in a while you find other things under there as well like missing fish and fry that are starting to grow up and can't get back out.

adonai · 12-29-2006, 04:20 PM

No such luck.....solid top to the stand

but I figure if I get one on each side reverse flow and one or two in the middle I should get a pretty strong flow under there.....Well I have spent a fortune on this tank already so before I bring this up to the wife I do believe I need to bring in a couple new students(more money)

Tommy Gun · 12-29-2006, 05:06 PM

BJP · 12-29-2006, 07:10 PM

Quote:

you really should never have a fish get stuck under there dead or alive. A fry I can understand, but even still.....

I would agree in general but weird things happen. There's two basic styles of UG plates. On the premuim plates with all the ridges they usually have extra holes and little plastic caps to plug the ones you don't use. Over time the plastic caps tend to come lose or split outright. I've even accidently sucked them up in gravel vacuums when they were really worn and loose and I forgot they were buried under the gravel in that spot. On the cheaper style plates that are completely flat, the snap in plastic notches that attach the uplift tubes to the plate break pretty easily. Other debacles I remember include powerheads falling off the uplift tubes, the little plastic bars in the caps on the uplift tubes breaking and allowing a crack small enough for skinny fish to squeeze through, the caps themselves coming off leaving the tube open and empty with the airstone bouncing around the surface or even out on the floor and there's always the stupid things I've done like leave fish that are ready to spawn in tanks with UG's to come back and find an entire plate dug up.

I did have quite a bit of fun destroying the 100+ UG's. We took them camping. About half ended up in the bonfire. The other half bacame targets. My opinion of course, but if you have to choose, the cheap black plates make a lot bigger visual when hit by birdshot from a 12 gauge than the nicer ones.