"Kellbot" wrote in message
om...
I currently have a little 10 gallon tank. Whenever I clean the gravel
it kicks up chemicals and evil gunk and sends my paramaters out of
whack... would a reverse UGF help with this by keeping things from
settling in the gravel? I really would like to keep the gravel. Would
a reverse UGF provide too much turbulence in a 10 gallon tank? Right
now I have a Top Fin 10 (Petsmart's cheap filter for 10 gallon tanks,
worst. filter. ever) and a bubble wall along the back.

Also, would adding a UGF help maintain my bio filter? one of the
biggest problems with the HOB I have now is that whenever you replace
the mechanical filter pad, it takes most of the biobugs with it. I
plan on picking up an aquaclear whenever I can afford it.

Thanks

Some people swear by RUGF, but my experience has not been great with
Goldfish. I had a 55 that suffered a PH crash a few months ago. So I
buffered (coral) the water and slowly removed the gravel for a thorough
cleaning. This helped, but Nitrates were still a constant battle (no
plants). I finally tore down the tank about a month ago when it got moved to
the basement. There was a lot of black gunk under the plates. I suspect some
of this was algae or gravel coating (epoxy), but it did have a nasty smell
to it.

The new tank has just enough gravel to cover the bottom and no plates. I
left the RUGF in the old tank, as it will be mostly plants and a few
tropicals.

What are you using to clean your gravel BTW? I use a Python and all the
'evil gunk' gets sucked down the drain.