Under Gravel Filter

[MisterAtlantis]

Hello,
I used to use a UGF on my tank many (very many) moons ago, think it was a 2 or 3 ft tank, back then thy were all the rage and it worked fine.
Do any of you still use one ? and if so what is your tank size and substrate and what fish do you stock
Also if you have a sumped tank what do you have in it for filtration and do you use anything for nitrate removal ?
One more question does any one have a blue lobster, if so do you keep it in a species tank or with other fish ?

 

[onidrase]

Hello,
I used to use a UGF on my tank many (very many) moons ago, think it was a 2 or 3 ft tank, back then thy were all the rage and it worked fine.
Do any of you still use one ? and if so what is your tank size and substrate and what fish do you stock
Also if you have a sumped tank what do you have in it for filtration and do you use anything for nitrate removal ?
One more question does any one have a blue lobster, if so do you keep it in a species tank or with other fish ?

UG filters are under used these days because they are high maintenance to take care of properly, sand is more efficient and bottom feeders really enjoy it, but it can't be used with a UGF, and there are tons of whisper quiet, more efficient HOB filters nowadays, which are cheaper to use in the long run.

Blue lobsters should not be kept with fish, as they are a lot faster than they look, and will readily eat anything they can get their claws on. Same goes with any clawed critters out there. I saw a 3 inch blue lobster take down a 5 inch african cichlid at my LFS the other day.

 

[jonnyf84]

Hi, the majority of tanks where i work are run off UG's, 130 approx ranging from 350L to 30L, when i first went there is was one thing i pushed to get rid of, i wanted sumps running 2 tanks each just filled with biological media, this is the modern way and been reasonably young i thought that's the only way it should be, iv'e been there years now and whilst some tanks have been changed to externals, internals and sumps there's still over a hundred running on UG's and iv'e got to say iv'e been converted some what, i still choose externals and sumps for my home aquariums but in reality there's not much in it, UG's are very very good.

As the other guy said sand is preferred to gravel for the majority of bottom dwellers and again sand is what i use at home, but over the years at the shop iv'e succesfully kept all manners of bottom dwellers without any difficulties such as tulip eels, peacock eels, horseface loach, sand gobies, lobsters, corys, axolotls... you name it really. One of our 6 foot plant tanks is still run of a UG which is well know to disrupt rooted plants but again,no issue.

I would always go for modern filtration in the home but UG's are more than capable for the vast majority of set ups.