Talk Me Out Of Getting Another Tank!

[OscarWilde]

Undergravel filters are considered a bit old fashioned these days, but I still like them (being a bit old fashioned myself). Not instead of, but in addition to, a good internal or external filter.
Drawbacks – Plants do not always grow too well over it, but get one smaller than the floor of the tank and place it middle front, with deeper gravel to the back and sides for the plants.
Advantages – You can never have too much filtration.
It takes up much less tank space than any other type of filter.
It is not unsightly, especially once you have some Java moss growing up the uplift shaft.
And a few months down the line, if you stick a siphon tube down the shaft, you can suck out a whole load of muck – which shows that it is doing its job...

Thanks. I might leave it in then. The tank will also have the Fluval 2+ and a Cascade 400 so should be good and clear.

 

[Tolak]

Under gravel filters require a yearly teardown to clean. Beneath the plates debris builds up, and it can only be described as a mud puddle, it is quite nasty. You can try a siphon, or even a siphon with a pump on the uplift tube for cleaning, there will still be quite a bit of debris left further from the uplift tubes.

Due to channeling, the dirtier they get the less effective they are. For the bio filtration gained, as they are excellent bio filters, the tradeoff of never being able to get them really clean without a teardown is not a very good tradeoff.

Now, if you like fiddling with things, run it & do a teardown every few months, and it will be an excellent filter.