Toxic gas under the sand

[ptran]

A good way to do it is to take the return from your canister filter and run that down the lift tube. You would be pushing the water up through the gravel instead of pulling it through. But I am not necessarily promoting the use of the ug filter. I am just showing one way it could be done. I used to use them a lot but now I am getting away from them. If I use gravel in a tank, I use a small amount and then use other filtration.

Yeah UGF is out of date. Most of my filters are canister, but words are wet dry or sump is the way to go.

[chadw1920]

I have a 55 gallon commynity tank with a aqueon pro flex model 1 set up as a wet dry and a aqueon 55/75 hob natural gravel substrate tank is always crystal clear and its overstocked fish are happy and have awesome color

[barrettsline]

UGF maybe old and outdated. But there biological function is still just comparable to modern day filters. Is some situations I would use a ugf before anything else.


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[chadw1920]

Yes true but they can not handle the higher stocked tanks i had a 29 gallon with 2 oscars in it when i was a kid and it had a ugf on it and worked just fine

[barrettsline]

Yes true but they can not handle the higher stocked tanks i had a 29 gallon with 2 oscars in it when i was a kid and it had a ugf on it and worked just fine

They can handle more than there given credit for. Keep in mind that's all there was for a long time and people still kept the amount of fish they do know. My 150 with all the cichlids, loaches, and catfish only ran a UGF for years before I upgraded it.
I've run fish only saltwater tanks with only a UGF.
Recently I have seen tropheus and pertrochromis tanks stock more than mine running a UGF and power heads only.

They have there used but yes they are a bit out of date.


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[ptran]

Is some situations I would use a ugf before anything else.


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Sure when I'm low on cash lol.

[Ken B]

Sure, think about it. The whole gravel bed is biological filtration. How does the surface area of the gravel compare to the surface area of the biological media in your canister filter or the sump filter? You can double or triple your biological filtration using a ug filter. And if you use the canister filter return or the sump return and push the clean return water up through the gravel then the gravel stays clean and the sediment is continuously being pushed into the water column and being picked up by the canister or by the skimmer. But if you use a powerhead to pull the water through the gravel then the water is moving at a great enough force that you don't need to gravel vac the gravel very often. As the debris is pulled through the gravel, the bacteria breaks it down so a lot of the debris never makes it through the gravel. It is naturally consumed. So don't sell the ugf short. It can be a good powerful tool to have in your tank.

[ptran]

They can handle more than there given credit for. Keep in mind that's all there was for a long time and people still kept the amount of fish they do know. My 150 with all the cichlids, loaches, and catfish only ran a UGF for years before I upgraded it.
I've run fish only saltwater tanks with only a UGF.
Recently I have seen tropheus and pertrochromis tanks stock more than mine running a UGF and power heads only.

They have there used but yes they are a bit out of date.


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I used to have UGF under gravel in supplement to a canister for my 100 gallon. When I switched out gravel to sand, I saw how nasty it was under the plastic tray: about 1/2" nasty looking gunk supposed to be beneficial bacterial colony?

I cleaned that sh*t out and never look back to UGF.

[fshfrk]

To much sand is a problem. I would remove at least 5 or 6 big plastic cups of sand at every water change over the next month or so. Do it slowly till you have a sand bed of 1"-2" inches.