Should I Abandon My Undergravel Filter

[tfischer]

Hi all, new member/first post.

I've been running a 29-gallon aquarium setup since 1992, non-stop. It's been moved twice successfully and I've generally had good luck keeping the fish alive, decent water quality, etc.

The aquarium came with an undergravel filter, which I have since the beginning supplemented with a power filter. My current power filter is a Penguin Bio-Wheel, which is going on about 5 years old now, and is starting to develop issues. It needs a new impeller, and seems to be having issues removing floating debris from the water.

Rather than fix it or replace it with another power filter, I have been considering switching to a canister filter, which would theoretically give me better filtration and easier maintanence. Assuming I do this, the question becomes, what should I do with the undergravel filter?

I'm considering just abandoning it. The primary reason is that it seems to collect a ton of crud in the gravel (as would be expected with such a filter). I'll admit I"m not always the most prompt about vacuuming it out, and when I do, it pulls out an incredible amount of junk. It would be nice if I could have more of this 'junk' be trapped by the canister filter instead of being sucked into the gravel bed.

Assuming I'm not talked out of it, my plan would be to switch over to the new canister filter, and leave the UGF running for a few weeks to allow the canister to get biologically built up. Then I would simply shut off the UGF. I'd probably leave the riser tubes alone for a time to make sure I'm happy with the results, but at some point I'd probably just remove them so there's no traces of the filter left. Then hopefully over time, as I continue vaccuming the gravel, it will get cleaner.

What does everyone think of this plan?

Thanks much,
-Tim

 

[rabbut]

Leaving water under the plate where there is a dead spot could lead to issues with stagnation...

What I'd do is rig up the exturnal, such that it is pulling water in through the inlet as per nornal, and then put the outlet onto the riser tube, creating a canister driven RUGF (Reverse Under Gravel Filter) UGF's are good for bio-filtration but are high maintanance due to the "suck". Blowing water up through the gravel stops the dirt getting into the gravel bed and keeps the good biological part of the UGF, getting rid of the not-so-good high-maintanance part of them Mechanical and some biological filtering is done by the canister that is rigged as a pre-filter for it

All the best
Rabbut

 

[tfischer]

Leaving water under the plate where there is a dead spot could lead to issues with stagnation...

What I'd do is rig up the exturnal, such that it is pulling water in through the inlet as per nornal, and then put the outlet onto the riser tube, creating a canister driven RUGF (Reverse Under Gravel Filter) UGF's are good for bio-filtration but are high maintanance due to the "suck". Blowing water up through the gravel stops the dirt getting into the gravel bed and keeps the good biological part of the UGF, getting rid of the not-so-good high-maintanance part of them Mechanical and some biological filtering is done by the canister that is rigged as a pre-filter for it

All the best
Rabbut

Thanks for the advice. I have two riser tubes, would I just leave the second one alone, or try to cap it off somehow?

-Tim

 

[rabbut]

If you leave it uncapped, you will solve the stagnation issue, but create an issue with by-pass... What diameter tubes are being used for your riser tubes? There is probibly a relatively cheap cap fitting that you can get from a plumbing shop to do the job, otherwise, you'll have to get inventive with stuff you can stick into or over the hole...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Rooster]

Put a basket trap on one uplift tube of the UGF, (if not already fitted...) then simply feed the outlet of the external filter into the OTHER UGF tube.... the water will flow from the external and flow under the plate.

Could be that a BETTER flow could be achieved by using one uplift as an INLET for the external... either way, cap off the 'other' one with a basket to save the fish being sucked in or trapped under the plate(s)


By FAR the best option would be to remove the UGF....

 

[tfischer]

By FAR the best option would be to remove the UGF....

It just seems that it would be pretty traumatic for the environment. But if this is routinely done, I'd consider it...

-Tim

 

[TheConstantGrower]

Since 1992 without ever changing anything?

I cant go a month without planning a new tank.




You sir, are a pillar of self control in this hobby.



Im going to have to go with rooster on this one, UGF's are nothing but trouble. All the ideas about using the uplift tubes as inlet for the can filter or whatever you go with is a decent idea and all, but under gravel filter time and time again has shown to be nothing but issue. But in the same breath its hard to say that if its been working for you for the last, ohh... 17 years.

 

[tfischer]

Since 1992 without ever changing anything?

Well, I'm obviously not a "aquaria hobbiest" I've certainly changed things over the years, but the UGF has been in use since day one -- mainly because I wasn't quite sure how to eliminate it, and it didn't seem to be hurting anyting save for making the gravel really dirty... I've always kind of considered it my bio filter whereas the power filter does everything else.

-Tim

 

[T1KARMANN]

just rip the under gravel filters out they are a thing of the past

get a good internal filter or better still a canister filter

things have moved on a lot since the day when under gravels were popular

 

[tfischer]

just rip the under gravel filters out they are a thing of the past

get a good internal filter or better still a canister filter

things have moved on a lot since the day when under gravels were popular

I'm not sure you read my original post

I'm getting a canister filter (it's currently on order, I'm awaiting shipment). My original question was if it would be ok to simply shut off the UGF and remove the lift tubes, or if I should do something else (e.g. keep it running, remove it, etc).

The reason I've kept it all these years is I felt it made a good biological backup for my power filter. My original power filter did not include a bio wheel, so I figured that every time I changed a filter pad/cartridge, I'd lose most my biological filtration. Later I switched to a bio-wheel but still didn't trust it to do all my biological filtration...

With a canister, I'm assuming that if I do the maintenance correctly, it will be more than sufficient to do my biological filtration for me (I've purchased one rated for up to 65 gallons, since the lower model was "up to 30", and I like to overengineer a bit (I have a 29 gallon).


So, the consensus here seems to be to remove the UGF completely. Is this something I can do without completely tearing down the tank (e.g. draining all water and removing fish?)

Thanks much for all the help.

-Tim

 

[xxBarneyxx]

UGF are old technology, however they do work when set up right. If it was me I would do exactly as suggested above, leave it in there and turn it into a reverse flow under gravel filter.

The reason why I would do this is:
1) Its a lot less hassle.
2) a RFUGF will keep the biological filtration it already has in place.
3) It will help stop detris build up in the gravel (will all be blown up into the water column to then be remove by the canister filter where it is easier to get rid of.
4) Its always good to have a back up in case the canister filter ever fails.
5) Its a lot less hassle. I know I said that before but I really wouldnt want to rip apart an established tank just to remove something that wont hurt and argueably has a lot of benifits.

To setup the reverse flow UGF you can use the output from the canister in one inlet and block the other inlet. You could also get a couple of power heads to attached to the inlets to pump water below the UGF plates (that way if the canister filter dies your UGF will still be working).

I havent used RFUGF for a long time but I do honestly think that they have their uses and when used in combination with other filter types (such as cansiter filters) they do a really good job.

 

[rabbut]

If however you choose to remove the UGF, you will have to run the canister and UGF side-by-side for at least a month before removing the UGF