Under Gravel Filter

[AN1M343V3R]

Hi, i got my 4ft tank with one in and its air powered, just wondering what the pros and cons are of using one

 

[Mikaila31]

Cons is debris normally builds up under the UGF plate. Your gravel is essentially your filter media, which makes changing your substate a big issue. Pros is it has a large area for bacteria.

If you change it to reverse flow with a prefilter... that is water goes down the pipes and up through the gravel. This avoids any build up under the UGF plate.

 

[three-fingers]

The biggest con is that they trap dirt so every year you'll have to rip the whole tank apart (all the gravel out) and give it a clean to remove trapped silt. Also a lot of plants don't do well with their roots in the in it.
They arent bad filters, but you would save a lot of hassle buy buying an internal, or even better, external power filter . Far less maintenance.

 

[AN1M343V3R]

thanks for the responses, i do have an external filter as well as the under gravel, i guess when it comes to cleaning it ill remove it then