Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:07 pm GMT   Reply      

ok so i posted a picture on my profile. Decided to redo my 55 gal tank, so i decided to pull up my UG filter to make sure and get everything nice and clean. Amazed i was...and slightly traumatized. If you look at the picture you will see what i am talking about. It makes me re-thing ever putting one back in any of my tanks ever again. Now it just seems to me that all the filter is doing is providing a place for detrus to build up, and up and up.....my water was black. Almost like a time bomb just waiting to go off. and it is not like i kept a dirty tank either. Just wanted everyones oponion on this.
http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/enlarge.php/16917

Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:26 pm GMT   Reply      

I think when you use power heads you don't get so much gunk building up under the filter plates. I pulled up the plates on the ends of my 100 gallon and there wasn't much except for a bit of fine sand and gravel to clean up. The flow with an air stone is pretty slow and yes, I have heard that detritus will build up in that case. I have used them with power heads for years and I think they're great as long as you do through gravel cleaning.

Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:27 pm GMT   Reply      

a1....

did you have powerheads attached to your riser tubes, or air tubes with attached air stones?

Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:43 pm GMT   Reply      

Though under the UGF it's pretty clean, my gravel can get filled with gunk and I don't know how bad it gets till I start stirring it up with my hand. My ammonia and nitrites are usually zero and pH is usually about 7.0, but if I haven't cleaned the gravel in a while when I mix up the gravel the tank goes totally dark brown. You can't even see an inch into the tank. I usually let the muck settle on the bottom and then vacuum it up. I think a properly maintained UGF with power head does a great job filtering particulates and providing surface area and water flow for cycling bacteria to live.

Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:58 pm GMT   Reply      

i was just using air stones which i assume that the air flow with those are minimal if any....i just didnt know if power heads made much of a difference. what do you all think of UG jets......or if the were a way to do it a combination of UGF and UGJ?

Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:02 am GMT   Reply      

i had plans of replacing the air stones with power heads untill i read about all of the trouble that you had with yours after you did that i figured that mine would be even worse being that my tank had been set up longer and was over stocked

Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:11 am GMT   Reply      

a1...

my powerheads have completely changed my ugf for the better (thanks Peter). Since putting them in, i don't even use the highest output setting on my powerheads (i have two aquaclear 20 powerheads in a 20 gallon, so even at the lowest setting on each powerhead i get 180 gph total which is enough... i set it half way, so im guessing i get around 210 gph). After a week of initially turning them on, and doing adequate water changes... my water has been pretty clear. And after adding a second filter and an additional media bag of carbon, my tank usually looks crystal crystal clear. The powerheads work very well. I also leave the venturi on full and have modified my outputs to point at the surface so i get plenty of oxygen in the water. Only recently i cleaned out a small section of gravel not sitting on the ugf, and gunk had built up in there, so will make sure to always clean this area.... other than that, smooth sailing. What i like best about the powerheads is if a flake of food gets missed on its way down, the current keeps it moving around until the fish sees it again (may sound silly but keeps the subtrate that much cleaner). I also don't have a spot of algae anywhere and havent for months... prob cause im cycled and leave lights on only 6 hours, but i feel the slight current helps keep algae away.

Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:25 pm GMT   Reply      

It kind of depends on whether you're growing high light demanding plants with supplemental fertilizer added to the substraight. I've done a lot of inquiries about whether a UGF is good with planted tanks and my conclusion is that if you are using plants that can grow on wood and/or get most of their nutrients from the water and not from the actual soil/gravel in the tank UGF's are beneficial. The situation where they're not is when you have plants that need to have higher amounts of fertiliser in the substraight where a UGF puts too much of this fertiliser into the water causing excessive algae growth. In this case it's probably best to not have water flow through the substraight. In all others if you clean the gravel regularly a UGF with a power head greatly supplements whatever other filters you may have by filtering particulates and providing a bed of beneficial bacteria which promotes healthy cycling of the waste fish and excess food produces.