Undergravel Filters

[RustedKnight]

Long story short, found a bloke selling a 30"x12"x15" tank, with heater, lighting unit and under gravel filter (supplied with pump) for the total price of £45.

Now, I'm definately interested in this as a breeding tank for cichlids.

But I need to know;

How efficient are these undergravel filters (bearing in mind I will be doing regular maintenance and gravel vacs)

Will it be any good for a breeding tank, or should I scrap the system and invest in another Fluval U2

 

[the biffster]

no stick with the under gravel
i would say there very efficient
when it comes to filtering
it makes it easy when it comes
to cleaning the tank cos
all the muck goes straight
to the gravel which is going to
be vacuumed i run them for years
i am about to set up a new gold
fish tank with a U/G filter as
they can handle large quantities
of detritus

 

[fluttermoth]

I agree with the biffster; UGs are great for breeding tanks; they provide very good biological filtration and have a nice gentle flow, so no worries about fry being sucked up like you have with internals.

 

[roadmaster]

Long story short, found a bloke selling a 30"x12"x15" tank, with heater, lighting unit and under gravel filter (supplied with pump) for the total price of £45.

Now, I'm definately interested in this as a breeding tank for cichlids.

But I need to know;

How efficient are these undergravel filters (bearing in mind I will be doing regular maintenance and gravel vacs)

Will it be any good for a breeding tank, or should I scrap the system and invest in another Fluval U2

Were it me, and Messy fish such as Cichlids were to be housed in the tank. I would use a couple powerhead's with reverse flow capabilities attached to the tubes of the undergravel filter.
In this way, water is pushed down through the tubes by the powerhead in reverse flow, and up through the gravel where a canister filter or Hang on the back filter can clean the water and thus much less of the gunk that normally collects under the plate of UG filter takes place.
Water stays much cleaner than normal UG operation where gunk is pulled down under the filter plate and collects there.
Many who keep large cichlids have success with this method.

 

[RustedKnight]

Brilliant. So i'll just need some small, soft gravel, and it's all good to go.

Now I've read that you don't want substrate diggers in there, so I can't keep my cory's in there, that correct??

Which means my main tank will be missing it's main focal point. Hmm. Unless I just plant it heavily, then wait for my cichlids to spawn in my display tank, then move the fry over to the breeding tank..

What would you suggest? Or should I take these questions to the Cichlids forum?

-=-

Edit

-=-

This would be used for Cockatoo dwarf cichlids, and they don't seem very messy at all, and are forever hoovering around the substrate picking up the scraps. They are as bad as my corydora's.

 

[the biffster]

yeah they'll be OK i used
to keep Cory's in mine with
no problems i also used to keep
khulis in it if you use power heads
on the reverse flow settings it
can suck fry in an kill them
that's why i find it better just
air powered

 

[roadmaster]

yeah they'll be OK i used
to keep Cory's in mine with
no problems i also used to keep
khulis in it if you use power heads
on the reverse flow settings it
can suck fry in an kill them
that's why i find it better just
air powered

Pre-filter sponge's will prevent fishes from being drawn into the powerhead.
You can buy them or make em yourself.

 

[RustedKnight]

yeah they'll be OK i used
to keep Cory's in mine with
no problems i also used to keep
khulis in it if you use power heads
on the reverse flow settings it
can suck fry in an kill them
that's why i find it better just
air powered

I'm guessing the filter won't be fine enough to allow the use of sand, which is my cory's preferred substrate, they love digging in it.

The guy has removed the buy it now from the tank, even though i'm the only bidder. I'm away all day when it finishes, so I offered him the cash now, take it or leave it sort of thing.

 

[the biffster]

yeah they'll be OK i used
to keep Cory's in mine with
no problems i also used to keep
khulis in it if you use power heads
on the reverse flow settings it
can suck fry in an kill them
that's why i find it better just
air powered

I'm guessing the filter won't be fine enough to allow the use of sand, which is my cory's preferred substrate, they love digging in it.

The guy has removed the buy it now from the tank, even though i'm the only bidder. I'm away all day when it finishes, so I offered him the cash now, take it or leave it sort of thing.

not any good for sand i used to use
that very small rounded gravel
the coreys didn't mind that and with
it been rounded it didn't erode there
barbels

 

[RustedKnight]

Fair enough, well if I get it i'll figure out what I'm going to do with it. Cory's will likely stay in the display tank then.

Now all thats left to do is hope they breed, and see if there's any interest in Apisto. Cacatuoides that have been home bred.

 

[flix_cw]

The guy has removed the buy it now from the tank, even though i'm the only bidder. I'm away all day when it finishes, so I offered him the cash now, take it or leave it sort of thing.

The 'Buy it Now' option goes as soon as the first bid is made. Otherwise someone could just buy it despite you placing a bid. You may find a few others are stealthily watching it ready to make a last minute bid, that's what i do!