QUESTION ON FILTERS

[RYO]

I HAVE AN UNDERGROUND FILTER +A RENA FILSTAR INTERNAL FILTER FITTED IN MY 10G TANK,BUT IN SPEAKING TO GUYS WHO HAVE A LOT MORE EXPERIENCE THAN I DO , SAID UNDERGROUND FILTERS ARNT WORTH BOTHERING WITH.
IVE READ IN THE FORUM ABOUT REVERSE UNDERGROUND FILTERS BUT THAT JUST SENT MY HEAD WEST
WOULD APPRECIATE SOME INFO CHEERS

 

[njparton]

I HAVE AN UNDERGROUND FILTER +A RENA FILSTAR INTERNAL FILTER FITTED IN MY 10G TANK,BUT IN SPEAKING TO GUYS WHO HAVE A LOT MORE EXPERIENCE THAN I DO , SAID UNDERGROUND FILTERS ARNT WORTH BOTHERING WITH.
IVE READ IN THE FORUM ABOUT REVERSE UNDERGROUND FILTERS BUT THAT JUST SENT MY HEAD WEST
WOULD APPRECIATE SOME INFO CHEERS

I started out with UGF, a large air pump and 2 air stone driven uprisers.

Once my tank had cycled, I have never had a problem with ammonia or nitrite spikes - I put this down to the large SA deep gravel beds offer, especially when O2 rich water is sucked through them.

My one gripe was that small particles of old food etc. were never removed from the water so it always looked dirty and never polished.

To remedy this I removed one uplift and replaced it with an external Fluval 104 filter. Water is crystal clear now

The 104 is actually too small for my tank/number of fish and I should have gotten at least a 204, but I still use one powerhead to drive my UGF and have never had any probs.

Hope that helps?

PS ALL my LFS's use UGF in all their tanks.

 

[Lateral Line]

Aquariums survived for decades with undergravel filters. Correctly maintained they work fine. They are not particulaly good for growing plants, (to much water circulation around the roots).

Reverse flowing your ugf basically means pushing water under the plates rather than pulling it out from under. Under certain circumstances - it can be better.

Do you have water quality problems, (NH3, NO2)? If not, well, then it's working isn't it!

 

[njparton]

Aquariums survived for decades with undergravel filters. Correctly maintained they work fine. They are not particulaly good for growing plants, (to much water circulation around the roots).

Reverse flowing your ugf basically means pushing water under the plates rather than pulling it out from under. Under certain circumstances - it can be better.

Do you have water quality problems, (NH3, NO2)? If not, well, then it's working isn't it!

My plants are doing fine with UGF.

 

[RYO]

thanks guys ,i'll keep goin with what ive got,cheers for the info.

 

[KimmyFishy89]

Well externals work fine for freshwater tanks. Its the marine tanks where you need an under gravel and an external filter.

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> My plants are doing fine with UGF.

I didn't say they wouldn't grow - I simply point out that the root environment created by a typical ugf is not ideal for plants, and that they grow better without large water movement around their roots. Most plants grow in fine sands and muds with hardly any water circulation.