Undergravel filters

[nevs]

Hi

I am going to be starting a new tropical aquarium in a couple of weeks, and am still looking at filters. I am interested in a undergravel filter but I am not sure how they work. Web sites show the mechanical workings, but what I am interested in, is where the waste it filters out of the water collects and how often the filter would need to be cleaned, if this is the case at all.

Plus I am getting a 36" tank. Is this filter going to be powerful enough to clean the water? Obviously that depends on the types of fish and plants I have, but they just don't seem very powerful.

I am currently running a small coldwater aquarium which has a internal filter which works ok. What would be the best route for me to take?

Thanks in advance

S

 

[adeyc]

Hi nevs.
Hmmm, undergravel filters? I think the jury's still out on them at the moment. As you already know under gravel filters tend to be a bit weak but you can get powerheads for them rather than using the old airstone. I'm assuming your going to use a gravel substrate. The pluses on having a UGF is that you don't have so much showing in the tank(no filterbox etc) and you can use plants to hide the tubes. as for cleaning you're going to have to remove the filter every so often.Less if you use the old net curtain trick, it helps prevent any burrowing fishand plant roots getting into the filter and traps some of the waste as it tends to be sandwiched between two gravel layers.
Personaly I'd say use an box filter or an external one.
Some of the others will have different views on the subject though.
One of my mates swears by them. He's a lazy sod and doesn't clean anything all that often and wonders why his water parameters are constantly through the roof. Someone once told him that an UGF only needs cleaned once a year, and to him thats gospel and wont be told otherways. It all boils down to preference.