undergravel filters

[o-mickey]

Thinking of placing lr in my 125g tank are these type of filters accep. or do i have to remove them,and what should i go to ??? I now have whispers hooked to the plates.

 

[hunterdaddy]

From everything ive read here you dont want to use an undergravel filter due to it not being very stable down the road. (it can have problems) I use 2 whispers myself and although not the "best" for salt water they get the job done.

 

[o-mickey]

Should i remove the plates and how should i do this and should i keep my cc for an base or change to sand???

 

[mr . salty]

Although it is a BIG and messy job,the best thing to do is to remove ALL the CC and the plates and go with ALL SAND..To minimise the chance of a recycle you should use as much LIVE SAND as possible in this switch.You should also drain the tank into large containers leaving only an inch or two of water oin the tank.(do not diaturb the CC).Put your live rock and fish into one of these with heater,and filters running for circulation...Then remove the CC and UGF.By doing it this way you will only cloud up the couple of inches of water left in the tank. Next drain the remaining water,and clean the bottom of the tank.Then pump the CLEAN water back in.Add the live rock,then the sand,then the fish...If carefully planned this should only take a few(three or four) hours.

 

[o-mickey]

Thanks Salty!!!! i have whispers hooked 2 plates once i do away with plates should i look for something diff. 4 filters ?????? i do have a sqimmer & should i be looking into a u.v. setup if i put lr in. what size and what makes r your suggs.for a 125g?????

 

[fshhub]

with a dsb, you won't need any filters in the long run, just the dsb, lr and your skimmer, along wiht some powerheads for added circulaiton, that i s enough riltartion for any tank, if set up properly, so no you wooould not need any more filters

 

[o-mickey]

What is the diff. in sand bases?? Some tell you live and others say dead sand what would i really need?????

 

[fshhub]

live sand, but if you have lr, it wil become live, all live sand is is sand with good bacteria nd some pods in it, the bacteria will grow and the pods and critters will get theer from teh lr
and if you have fish and such in the tank, i would use ls, it woudl create less dust and have less of a chance of a re cycle
HTH

 

[mike j]

just a question about the LS.
What are the requirements for 'dead sand' to be usable in an aquarium?
For example, I know that sand from a playground across the street isn't going to work and all I've heard for a prerequisite is that the Home Depot sand works. What is it about this sand that makes it efficient?
The only reason I am asking is because if I can't find it at Home Depot I want to be able to know what it has to have in it, just in case I run across some somewhere else.
Thanks!

 

[fshhub]

southdown play sand is aragonite, which is mined in the bahamas, and aragonite is hte best, IMO for hte aquarium, but
silica and quartz, has been shown to be acceptable, if you cannot get southdown and do not want to pay for aragonite at your lfs($$$$$$$$) then i owuld look for quickrete sand, it has been used by others and seems to work fine
HTH

 

[mike j]

thank you very much fshhub, you have been very helpful as usual. I will continue to look for the southdown sand that everyone is talking about and hopefully, will not have to resort to substitutes.

 

[fshhub]

mike j, is that calgary ab as in canada(sorry i did not se that sooner), if so, then i woudl no t look tooo hard, southdown playsand is generalllly only found in some eastern(coastal) states, so i would have to bet that the odds are not in your favor, but i would check and see(without putting tom uch time into it)
like i said, aragonite from the lfs, is a bit more expensive, but if it is affordable, if not go with the quickrete

 

[mike j]

yes, I'm from waaaay up north, thanks for the heads up. I guess I will have to pay up for the DSB, perhaps in a while when I get some more money though.
For now it will just be in the cycling stage so the situation is far from critical.
Thanks fshhub