Undergravel Filters

[rl1oyd]

Ok so some of you might not like undergravel filters but i have one and that is not the question.

Tank floor is 6'6"x2' i have hagen ugf plates accross the whole bottom.
I am wondering which would be the best powerhead to use? I have 2x uptakes each corner and one in the back middle.

Mechanical filtration is/will be done by a xl cannister and aquamedic turboflotor 3000
FO tank

Thanks in advance

 

[fifefish]

Tbh. i wouldn't use a UGF there pretty useless, they just end up storing vast amounts of waste and are really hard to clean out..

 

[three-fingers]

Get another 2 xl canisters and connect their outputs to the UG tubes.

 

[nmonks]

As three-fingers suggests, your best results will come from combining the undergravel filter plate with the outflow pipes of the canister filters. Contrary to what fifefish states, a reverse-flow undergravel filter is one of the best, easiest-to-maintain filters there are. Since the water that enters them has solid waste removed, nothing much gets stuck underneath them; at least, assuming your canister filters have good quantities of mechanical media (floss for example). The water is pushed up through the gravel, which keeps sediment from collecting within the particles of gravel.

Having said all this, there is absolutely nothing wrong with regular undergravel filters. Yes, they collect sediment, but if you find them "dirty" you are usually not maintaining them properly. Regular stirring of the gravel does the trick, and then siphoning away the "mulm" is the key. This is one reason why undergravel filters aren't worthwhile in tanks with plants that have roots. (Floating plants and plants attached to bogwood are obviously fine.) In my experience, you shouldn't need to break down the tank to clean underneath the filter plate more than once a year. Although it sounds like a lot of work, it really isn't.

Undergravel filters were absolutely standard in the hobby right through to the 1980s. They can still be good choices where water chemistry is an issue, because you can mix coral sand (or similar) into the substrate so that the water is buffered to some degree.

Cheers, Neale

 

[rabbut]

RUGF, as described by nmonks and three fingers, would be the best, but if you want it to be a conventional UGF, I'd look at Maxijet powerheads. They take some breaking, There is a list in the instructions of about 20 things not to do with them. I do everything on that list to a lot of Maxijets each day I'm at work, and they never fail, even though the instructions say they should do Seriosuly heavy-duty pumps at reasonable prices.

It sounds like you are doing a Marine tank from the FO bit, and the mention of a skimmer (all be it one that's too small for the size of tank you have. Work run two of that model on their 400l marine reef, small feedings and light fish-load, and they under perform like they aren't even there TBH, and yours is a bigger tank)... If this is the case and you do use a RUGF, I'd get three Maxijet MP1200's. If it's a freshwater tank (which makes no sence from your post), you'll want three Maxijet MP600's.

Any reason why you are using UGF rather than Live Rock for your main filter? It's very "old school". It works for many things, but it's made easy to keep fish have a reputation for being "hard to keep" by it's DOC/DOM and Nitrate building-up tendencies and lack of various critters for specialist feeders to feed off... Or are you putting LR on top of the plate? If your doing the latter, a normal UGF would be better, as the LR would then get the flow it needs to stay live

All the best
Rabbut