UGF questions

I inherited an under gravel filter with my cichlid tank. I cleaned
it and set it up to run and it's going fine now -- run by a powerhead.

1. How does it work? I know the debris gets sucked down through
the gravel, pulled up a stand pipe and then spit out by the
powerhead. Doesn't that simply spit out the debris back into the
tank? Nothing was taken out by the filter? (There are no
mechanical filters along with the UGF.)

2. The debris spit out is picked up by a hang on back power filter.
Is that how people run a UGF?

3. How do I take care of a UGF? (No directions came with it.)
Vacuum the gravel weekly? Yearly take all apart and clean?

4. What are the advanges filter-wise to a UGF?

Any links would help too.

Thanks in advance.
coolchinchilla

"coolchinchilla" wrote in message
...
I inherited an under gravel filter with my cichlid tank. I cleaned
it and set it up to run and it's going fine now -- run by a powerhead.

1. How does it work? I know the debris gets sucked down through
the gravel, pulled up a stand pipe and then spit out by the
powerhead. Doesn't that simply spit out the debris back into the
tank? Nothing was taken out by the filter? (There are no
mechanical filters along with the UGF.)

Undergravel filters provide good biological filtration (almost as much as a
biowheel pro 60 comparably speaking) and some like the looks (or lack of
looks) better than other biological filters. I have always thought after
being told that undergravel filters provide very little mechanical
filtration and a power filter or other good mechanical filter is highly
recommended and might even be REQUIRED. Good microscopic (aerobic) bacteria
reproduce on the tank's inner (submerged) surfaces and at the same time eat
ammonia and defecate (for lack of a better word) nitrites and then other
good bacteria on the same surfaces eat the nitrites and defecate nitrates
and nitrates are o.k. to have in the tank unlike ammonia (defecated by the
fish) and nitrite (defecated by the fish) as ammonia and nitrite are highly
toxic. The gravel on the undergravel filter is a great home for the aerobic
good bacteria.

2. The debris spit out is picked up by a hang on back power filter.
Is that how people run a UGF?


Usually - yes.

3. How do I take care of a UGF? (No directions came with it.)
Vacuum the gravel weekly? Yearly take all apart and clean?


I am not so sure a yearly breakdown of the tank is required but yes you got
it - weekly or so gravel cleaning is a must.


4. What are the advanges filter-wise to a UGF?


They are one of the best aerobic good bacteria cultivators still even to
this day.


Any links would help too.

Thanks in advance.
coolchinchilla

Good luck, and later!

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 00:09:14 -0500, coolchinchilla
wrote:

I inherited an under gravel filter with my cichlid tank. I cleaned
it and set it up to run and it's going fine now -- run by a powerhead.

1. How does it work? I know the debris gets sucked down through
the gravel, pulled up a stand pipe and then spit out by the
powerhead. Doesn't that simply spit out the debris back into the
tank? Nothing was taken out by the filter? (There are no
mechanical filters along with the UGF.)

The debris sticks in the gravel, the gravel itself is the filter
media. Bacteria growing in the gravel break down the debris, while
it's in the gravel, just like the bacteria in a cannister filter like
the Eheim grow on the filter media and break down the debris which was
sucked into the cannister. As far as I know there shouldn't be any
large pieces of debris which get sucked back up the uplift tube and
spit back into the water. It should all be in the gravel. If you can
see stuff being spit into the water by the powerhead, then I will say
that the suction power is too large, if it's adjustable you should
turn it down. I don't know anything about powerheads though, I've only
used UGFs with an airstone down the uplift tube, so the suction
upwards through the tube is presumably much less, leaving all the
debris in the gravel.

2. The debris spit out is picked up by a hang on back power filter.
Is that how people run a UGF?

I don't know what you're talking about here. Do you have this back
power filter together with the powerhead?

3. How do I take care of a UGF? (No directions came with it.)
Vacuum the gravel weekly? Yearly take all apart and clean?

Yes you should vacuum the gravel, as often as weekly isn't really
necessary. I will say once a month is enough, if you use the UGF. A
tank without a UGF should be vacuumed more often. If I were using a
UGF (I'm not at the moment) on my main tank I would never take it
apart and clean it, unless I were taking down the whole tank and
starting over. You can get a fine brown silt which collects under the
filter plate, this is the residue from all the debris which the
bacteria is breaking down. To remove this silt, twice a year or once a
year, you can remove the powerhead, stick some of that thin tubing
down the uplift tube and under the filter plate and suck on it,
siphoning out the water under the filter plate and hopefully the brown
gunk with it. The tubing which is used with those small air pumps with
airstones will work for this.

4. What are the advanges filter-wise to a UGF?

Hmm... I'm not confident about finding any real advantages to it as
far as having a good filter. There is an advantage for your gravel
though. The suction from the powerhead is sucking water from your tank
down through the gravel and back up the uplift tube. The water in your
tank is oxygen-rich water being taken through the gravel constantly,
so your entire gravel bed is oxygenated which allows the growth of the
bacteria which we want in our tanks. If one doesn't have a UGF there
can be pockets in the gravel where the oxygen is used up, dead spots,
and all kinds of dire stuff can happen. Or the bottom inch or half
inch of the gravel might not get any oxygen ever, and unbeneficial
bacteria start growing there creating noxious gases as their
byproducts. So tanks without UGFs need to have their gravel vacuumed
as an absolute requirement IMO.

-Derek

Any links would help too.

Thanks in advance.
coolchinchilla

coolchinchilla wrote:
I inherited an under gravel filter with my cichlid tank. I cleaned it
and set it up to run and it's going fine now -- run by a powerhead.

1. How does it work? I know the debris gets sucked down through the
gravel, pulled up a stand pipe and then spit out by the powerhead.
Doesn't that simply spit out the debris back into the tank? Nothing was
taken out by the filter? (There are no mechanical filters along with
the UGF.)

Nope. The debris stays in your gravel bed. The power filter will also
catch some.

2. The debris spit out is picked up by a hang on back power filter. Is
that how people run a UGF?

See my note below about reverse flow UGF. Generally a UGF can be run as
a stand alone filter. The gravel bed provides both mechanical and
generous biological filtration.

3. How do I take care of a UGF? (No directions came with it.) Vacuum
the gravel weekly? Yearly take all apart and clean?

YES! A normal flow UGF must be vacuumed and taken apart periodically
and cleaned. Yearly is ideal. Some folks get under the tank with a
flashlight and decide. If you don't break down a UGF tank, sludge
accumulates under the filter plates and starts to cause problems.

4. What are the advanges filter-wise to a UGF?

It provides excellent bio filtration, looks neat, and takes up little
tank space.

Any links would help too.

Thanks in advance.
coolchinchilla

Look up reverse flow UGF. With a powerhead, you can run the gravel
filter with water flowing down the tube and up through the gravel. Use
a foam prefilter on the powerhead to keep from pushing debris under the
filter plates. The power filter will catch debris pushed up through the
gravel and you get the nice biofiltration benefits of UGF without having
to break down the tank.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

THANKS everyone for your help!! This is great!

coolchinchilla

coolchinchilla wrote:
I inherited an under gravel filter with my cichlid tank. I cleaned it
and set it up to run and it's going fine now -- run by a powerhead.

1. How does it work?