Undergravel filter modified to be compatible for fine plant

by **spongebob4460** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:05 pm

Peter, i came across an article searching for something else, that relates to this thread. It basically says that disturbing the substrate or not minimizing the phosphates in the water column in planted tanks leads to algae outbreaks and cyanobacteria outbreaks. Its interesting. Skip to the results section at the bottom. I think messing with the substrate might have some impacts, just a thought.

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/plantin ... d_aqua.htm

by **Peterkarig3210** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:43 pm

Thanks for the article. Since I'm thinking of trying to grow grasses and other ground cover plants I guess I'm probably not going to be able to clean the substrate under these plants anyway. Maybe I'll change my mind about this UGF but they still say that some circulation is good to get nutrients down to the roots. I think I will still do this and just not disturb the substraight. I'm waiting for a reply from a screen making company as to where I can find some, and I'm also looking into silk screen printing screen. I'll set it up, reseal the tank with silicone and add the substraight, wood, and some plants. Then I'll add the hundreds of mosquito fish and tilapia babies I have and start the cycle going. I expect the substraight to clog up and the flow to reduce, so at some point if I'm not cleaning the gravel the UGF may become non-functional, but I'm stuck on the idea and maybe there can be areas with no flow and ares with bare gravel and some flow so I can have some biological filter action through this. I'm looking forward to being able to have shrimp and small Siamese algae eaters again. Thanks for all the input guys. I'm getting discouraged about my cool idea. It may be that I shouldn't do it.

by **Peterkarig3210** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:21 am

I decided not to do the UGF with this tank. I added a mix of fluorite and "Eco-complete" plant medium to about 3.5 inches deep, a large beautiful stump of hard, heavy wood, and set up my Rena canister filter. Tomorrow I'll add some plants and the VHO light, and if the water is clear enough I'll add the hundreds of mosquito fish and tilapia babies to get the cycle going. There was just too much against using the UGF. It would have clogged, making it only functional in areas that were bare gravel where I was going to vacuum and it was unnecessary as far as I could figure. Thanks for all the input guys. It was a cool idea, but I doubt practicle.

by **snowboss** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:17 pm

on a side note PK - -have you been following the other posts, theres one with a guy mentioned named NOBOBO - -go to NOBOBO.COM - - -wow man you wanna see a nice planted set up - -lol maybe you already know him ...but WOW, Boss

by **spongebob4460** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:39 pm

Peter had sent me nobobo's link originally

by **Peterkarig3210** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:11 pm

Yea. This guy have the magic touch. No co2 either.

by **Snowboss4492** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:24 pm

oopps sorry - - i couldn't remember who said what to who - - i was just all excited about his tank.....lol

by **Serial324556** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:31 pm

Yeah, Snowboss showed me his site last night. Beautiful tank and i'm amazed that he uses no co2 equipment.

by **Peterkarig3210** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:25 pm

This guy proves to co2 diehards that you can grow high light requiring plants w/o co2. I personally like how fast my plants grow, and I don't care for a tank that's so packed with plants you can't even see half way into the tank. I like larger fish in some of my planted tanks as well as large schools of fish such as tetras in others and fish need some swimming room to be happy IMO. I don't use fertiliser for my plants either. The fish waste seems to provide plenty. I guess if you want to grow a field of hair grass or a carpet of ricca in a month or something co2 would be the way to go, but I'm into low-tech and I'm happy with what I've been able to grow.
Have you guys watched the videos on Nobobo's site? It's amazing to see his huge schools of fish swimming together back and forth through his tank. I just gave my 14 inch arowana back to the store. All my other fish in my 100 gallon are a lot happier w/o him bullying them around all the time. I also have my new tank going w/o the UGF and the baby mosquito fish and tilapia are still tiny. I'm waiting till they get bigger and get into more organised schools. I feed them flake food about 4 times a day in small amounts so they should grow quickly.

by **Snowboss4492** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:02 am

do you use auto feeders during the day? and i have never seen an LFS that will take a fish from a customer LOL i gues our area really sucks . . maybe i should look into starting a LFS store here .........hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm FishBoss ....lol

Undergravel filter modified to be compatible for fine plant

34 posts • Page 3 of 4

Undergravel filter modified to be compatible for fine plant

34 posts • Page 3 of 4