Removing ugf

jauringer

jauringer

Member
I currently have a 55g FO tank. My current equipment is cpr bak pak II, fluval 404 (3 chambers full of lava pellets and 4th, carbon.) and a UGF ran with two power heads = 425gph . Needless to say I need to get rid of it, however i am scared to pull it. My tank has been fully cycled for about a month now and did not add the fluval until after it was cycled. (it has been running for about 3 weeks. I need some advice. Is the bak pak and the fluval have enough biological media to handle my tank. I have about 9 inches of fish w/ cleaner shrimp. water perameters are all fine
am: 0
trites: 0
trates: 20
PH: 8.2
temp: 80
sg: 1.20
 
jauringer

jauringer

Member
was planning on doing one tonight, and remove the ugf if it is safe. As far as sg . I thought it was better to have it a little low in a FO tank. anyway do you think it is safe to remove the UGF?
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
do you have a plenum under the ugf? a space which has no or limited water flow??
Also are you going to keep the crushed coral as a substrate?
What type of fish/inverts do you have?
Do you have a Q tank set up?
 
nacl-man

nacl-man

Member
I would be very careful taking out the UGF. If I'm not mistaken you could kick up lots of junk that would not be very good for your fishes.
Also, when I took my UGF out it was a gigantic mess so be prepared... since your tank has only been up 3 weeks it shouldn't be that bad (mine was up for about a year before I changed it). Of course I didn't have any fish in it (the UGF killed them all I believe, sigh) when I changed it so it was much easier! Getting the substrate out was the biggest pain (I switched it with sand). Speaking of which what substrate do you have? I assume Crushed Coral?
There are some on this board that don't use skimmers or filters at all... if you have enough live rock and proper water circulation you may not even need to run the Fluval at all... But I would just for surface movement, and I would also recomend not running Carbon in it all the time... just every other month maybe to polish up the water.
If you have a Q-Tank setup it would prob be best to put your fish in it before doing anything that drastic to your tank.
Just my 2 cents... hope that helps. But definately get rid of that UGF! By whatever means necessary!! :D
Cheers.
 
jauringer

jauringer

Member
thanks for the responces. I am not sure what you meen by Plenum, but the there is an area underneath the UGF where water is pulled throught the Crushed coral and out the Power heads. I can take a Flash light and look underneath my tank at the area between the UGF and the bottom of my tank. It doesn't look to bad. I don't think i have it in there long enough to create too big of a mess. I do have a Quarintine to answer you question and I am using CC. I would really like to change to sand, but man that sounds like a pain in the a$$. What should i do.
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
OK if you don't have a sepcific dead spot (plenum) then I think it might not be that bad for you ....
once a year I rip out my UGF in my fresh water tanks and clean them .... which is a lot differnet han SW of course ....
but here is what I would do:
1. Get the Q tank to equal your main tank in parameters (sg, temp) Move fish in there.
2. syphon off as much water as you can into a clean bucket and SAVE IT ....
3. remove substrate into yet another contianer ... keep this - try not to stir up too much gunk (hahahaha)
4. Remove UGF - sell on ----
5. Replace CC with a sand bed (I'd shoot for about 4-5 inches)
6. Put siphoned water back into tank -SLOWLY!!!
7. Put CC into nylon bags and place back into tank to help with bio-filtering.
8. Place powerheads around tank for water movement
9. TEST WATER PARAMS
10. slowly add fish back into tank
Not sure what you have but if you post what fish you have and what inverts that would help!
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Overanalizer - Not bad, good instructions.
One thing though, You do not have to sell the UGF on ----. If he he ever gets an wet/dry he can chop it up and use it in place of bio balls. :D :D :D
Thomas
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
Thanks Thomas - uhmm I am way to lazy to chop it up .... I'd just get oneof those egg cratethingys .....
jauringer I will check your other post .... later - bed time for the kids now!
 
jauringer

jauringer

Member
hey all, just wanted to follow up and say that i did remove the UGF and lowered my CC bed down to about 1/2 inch. It was not as bad as i thought, My fluval sucked up alot of that crap in my gravel bed so i waited about an hour after i was done and washed all of the Fluval media in old saltwater. everything seems fine. I tested the water before coming to work this morning and here are my readings
am 0
trites 0
trates 10
The water change i did afterwards cut my trates in half.
The water basicaly cleared up for the most part over night. It still has a little ways to go but all in all it worked. I will probably change the carbon tonight. Thanks for all the help. later
 
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