want to install undergravel filter

[Cavafish]

As the topic title suggests I am wanting to install an undergravel filter into my Juwel 60 litre tank.

The reason for this is to increase the filtration over and above the juwel setup and to increase the flow of water in the tank. I know that undergravel is considered to be 'old hat' and out-of-date and that the juwel system works perfectly well but I have been convinced/converted in my way of thinking by a lady who maintains dozens of tanks in a shop/aquarium and I have never seen tanks so clean and fish so healthy looking. I am going to go for this (alongside the juwel filter) based on her knowledge/results/experience.

So, does anyone know how to size the pumpy powerheady thing that is needed to move the water? Are there any differences in the different makes of plates available?

Any other advice would be greatly recieved too.

Just for info this is going into a tank that is being restarted from scratch.

many thanks

Cava

 

[Lateral Line]

The first question really is why do you want to over filter your tank? The Juwel internals are sized to a sensible stock level in the supplied tank. You really should not need extra filtration to keep a healthy tank if you stock sensibly. Dealers tend to have excess filtration in their tanks because of necessity, they overstock their tanks.

UGF's are, as you say, old hat. They work very well however, as long as you have a sensible depth of gravel, (they won't work with sand or other fine substrates), and you do not have fish that dig or move the gravel around.

Maintenance involves gravel vacuuming. The downflow of water draws crud into the gravel bed much faster then would happen without a ugf.

The plates themselves are much of a muchness. The biggest problem you'll have is finding one small enough, but they can be cut and fitted. Algarde plates are very suitable for cutting/pasting. The Rena modular plates are very small and you fit them together jigsaw style to build the size you want. The thing is, I am not sure how available these things are any more!

As for driving the uplifts, again, you'll have a problem getting something small enough, the smallest powerheads are going to create a lot of current in the tank which is not the natural environment for a lot of the normal trops. Air uplifts are less disturbing, but obviously require an external airpump, and are noisy.

>>> I think undergravel is my only option (isnt it?)

No. You can buy internal filters of many types which are, in many ways, similar to the Juwel units. They are quieter, but again, even the small ones will create quite a bit of action in a small tank. They also take up space of course.