Query -filter S
- Thread starter carney
- Start date
Paavn
Fish Fanatic
by heads he is probably talking about power heads so to push the water through the filters. i dont know much about power heads or under gravel filters but from what i understand after reading this forum is that there are much better filters than under gravel filters. im sure someone with more knowledge on this will elaborate for you
markandhisfish
comfortably numb
my advice ditch the undergravel and get an external. far more efficient and easier maintainence
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
It depends on whether he is giving you an established tank and you need to preserve the "biofilter" function (provided by the beneficial bacteria which will have attached to the substrate gravel as the undergravel filter pulls water through the gravel.) If its a working tank with fish, then you'll want to continue to use the undergravel system while you cycle a new external, HOB or internal filter alongside. Eventually, after a month or two, when the new filter is established, you can retire the undergravel filter.
In my experience, experienced aquarists can handle undergravel filters just fine, albeit with the right kind of maintenance tricks, but undergravels are generally a nightmare for beginners.
~~waterdrop~~
In my experience, experienced aquarists can handle undergravel filters just fine, albeit with the right kind of maintenance tricks, but undergravels are generally a nightmare for beginners.
~~waterdrop~~
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
carney,
hard for anyone to answer that... Any overall biofilter grows to match the size of the fish stocking it is currently handling. If you have more than one filter then it divides the load across all those filters (not necessarily evenly, but probably more evenly the longer the multiple filters have been running.)
So... the factors to consider would be, I guess, whether there has been any recent drop in the fish stocking (this would be good for you because you'd have less fish to support than the bacterial colonies that have been built up and when you dropped to "half filtration" the biofilter might be less overloaded (make sense?) Another factor might be how long the two existing filters have been established. If either is recent, it might be carrying less load than the older one.
One thing in your favor is that it sounds like the fluval is already established, so if you decide to just ditch the undergravel and go with the fluval and another new filter then it will serve as the "mature media seed" for your new system and new filter and should shorten the time of your resulting "fish-in" cycle. Probably, though, you are looking at a serious fish-in cycling period if the fish stocking is significant, so you could have some rough weeks of water changes.
By the way, removing an underwater filter can be quite a mess as it may have a serious collection of mulm underneath. I guess many would actually do some sort of bucket transfer of the fish and do a complete tear-down. Oh, and you probably need to describe the fish stocking more to the members, for possibly more help here.
~~waterdrop~~
hard for anyone to answer that... Any overall biofilter grows to match the size of the fish stocking it is currently handling. If you have more than one filter then it divides the load across all those filters (not necessarily evenly, but probably more evenly the longer the multiple filters have been running.)
So... the factors to consider would be, I guess, whether there has been any recent drop in the fish stocking (this would be good for you because you'd have less fish to support than the bacterial colonies that have been built up and when you dropped to "half filtration" the biofilter might be less overloaded (make sense?) Another factor might be how long the two existing filters have been established. If either is recent, it might be carrying less load than the older one.
One thing in your favor is that it sounds like the fluval is already established, so if you decide to just ditch the undergravel and go with the fluval and another new filter then it will serve as the "mature media seed" for your new system and new filter and should shorten the time of your resulting "fish-in" cycle. Probably, though, you are looking at a serious fish-in cycling period if the fish stocking is significant, so you could have some rough weeks of water changes.
By the way, removing an underwater filter can be quite a mess as it may have a serious collection of mulm underneath. I guess many would actually do some sort of bucket transfer of the fish and do a complete tear-down. Oh, and you probably need to describe the fish stocking more to the members, for possibly more help here.
~~waterdrop~~
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