undergravel filter
- Thread starter pfowler
- Start date
smokinstarfish
Member
Soooooooo hurting it!!!!!!!!!
That's Nitrate City Central...
That's Nitrate City Central...
bdhough
Active Member
As smokin said but Ill add that it will be about 8 months down the line that it happens..... If you have a sure fire way of getting things down into the filter plate to clean it then keep it. Otherwise keep the power head and put lots of rock in it. The rock is all the filtration you need as will the sand once it gets cultured. If you keep the power head, i would put one more in there, RIO 50, and combined with the flow from the skimmer should be all you need. Keep in mind the skimmer will be your souce of aeration unless you set up a seperate mechanical filter....
T
thomas712
Guest
Well now how did I miss this thread. I never miss UGF questions.
First off Welcome to the board pfowler
This is my standard answer to the Undergravel filter:
As for undergravel filters, I've been through this, won't go through it again. Why?
1. Frequent water changes to try to get the ditrus and nitrates out.
2. If you put live rock on it you will build up more dead ditrus spots that will pump out more nitrates in you system. This just makes them simply non reef compatible. They were meant for a crushed coral bottom and are no good with sand.
3. You run the risk of Carbon dioxide poisoning that builds up underneath.
4. Although it can help with the bioload it is only low bio load friendly.
5. With what can seep out from underneath the algea blooms can be spectacular leading to what is called New Tank Syndrome even if you think your tank is seasoned, and if you do not vaccum well you will simply reintroduce the waste back into the water colum. This can reek havoc on your water chemistry and your PH.
6. Even though you use the best strongest powerheads on it, it will just pull the waste and ditrus down into the substrate traping it till it decays and fouls your water or waits to be removed by you and the vaccum tube. Much better to use sand and good water flow to keep the ditrus in suspension in the water to be removed by the protein skimmer or machanical filtraition.
7. No matter how you slice it the UGF is just a ditrus trap. If anything deserves the name nitrate factory it is the UGF.
Just my OPINION.
Thomas
First off Welcome to the board pfowler
This is my standard answer to the Undergravel filter:
As for undergravel filters, I've been through this, won't go through it again. Why?
1. Frequent water changes to try to get the ditrus and nitrates out.
2. If you put live rock on it you will build up more dead ditrus spots that will pump out more nitrates in you system. This just makes them simply non reef compatible. They were meant for a crushed coral bottom and are no good with sand.
3. You run the risk of Carbon dioxide poisoning that builds up underneath.
4. Although it can help with the bioload it is only low bio load friendly.
5. With what can seep out from underneath the algea blooms can be spectacular leading to what is called New Tank Syndrome even if you think your tank is seasoned, and if you do not vaccum well you will simply reintroduce the waste back into the water colum. This can reek havoc on your water chemistry and your PH.
6. Even though you use the best strongest powerheads on it, it will just pull the waste and ditrus down into the substrate traping it till it decays and fouls your water or waits to be removed by you and the vaccum tube. Much better to use sand and good water flow to keep the ditrus in suspension in the water to be removed by the protein skimmer or machanical filtraition.
7. No matter how you slice it the UGF is just a ditrus trap. If anything deserves the name nitrate factory it is the UGF.
Just my OPINION.
Thomas
madd catt
Member
Not too mention they yearly breakdown of a undergravel filter to clean it,that would mean taking apart your reef tank.
If your talking about a reverse flow ug filter thats differant but it requires a canister filter in conjuction with it to clean the tank and the plates may still need to be cleaned.
If your talking about a reverse flow ug filter thats differant but it requires a canister filter in conjuction with it to clean the tank and the plates may still need to be cleaned.