Underground filters

Years ago I had two of these and they worked well. What books I've read
(published 1995 to date) seem to say they are good inexpensive filters
to use. However, in my trips to WalMart, a local fish store, Petco &
PetsMart, they seem to have all disappeared - else I'm blind.

Are these little hummers still available? Thoughts & comments on them
welcome.

Grandpa John

"John DeBoo" wrote in message
. ..
Years ago I had two of these and they worked well. What books I've read
(published 1995 to date) seem to say they are good inexpensive filters to
use. However, in my trips to WalMart, a local fish store, Petco &
PetsMart, they seem to have all disappeared - else I'm blind.

Are these little hummers still available? Thoughts & comments on them
welcome.

Grandpa John
=========================
Good morning John. I stopped using UGFs years ago. It was almost
impossible to get the crud out from under them and who knew what deadly
gasses were developing in the decomposing mulm (bits of food, plant matter
and feces) caught there. Trying to clean them was the pits. I finally
broke down every tank at the time and one by one removed them. I just use
gravel and a gravel vac now. I use HOB Aquaclears and have been very
satisfied with them.
--

RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Reel McKoi wrote:

"John DeBoo" wrote in message
. ..
Years ago I had two of these and they worked well. What books I've
read (published 1995 to date) seem to say they are good inexpensive
filters to use. However, in my trips to WalMart, a local fish store,
Petco & PetsMart, they seem to have all disappeared - else I'm blind.

Are these little hummers still available? Thoughts & comments on them
welcome.

Grandpa John
=========================
Good morning John. I stopped using UGFs years ago. It was almost
impossible to get the crud out from under them and who knew what deadly
gasses were developing in the decomposing mulm (bits of food, plant
matter and feces) caught there. Trying to clean them was the pits. I
finally broke down every tank at the time and one by one removed them. I
just use gravel and a gravel vac now. I use HOB Aquaclears and have
been very satisfied with them.


Good advice, maybe I'll use whatever filter comes with the set up and a
gravel vac. I used one of them years ago with good success with the UGF
system I had then.

Grandpa John

On Sep 21, 1:32 pm, John DeBoo wrote:
Reel McKoi wrote:

"John DeBoo" wrote in message
...
Years ago I had two of these and they worked well. What books I've
read (published 1995 to date) seem to say they are good inexpensive
filters to use. However, in my trips to WalMart, a local fish store,
Petco & PetsMart, they seem to have all disappeared - else I'm blind.

Are these little hummers still available? Thoughts & comments on them
welcome.

Grandpa John
=========================
Good morning John. I stopped using UGFs years ago. It was almost
impossible to get the crud out from under them and who knew what deadly
gasses were developing in the decomposing mulm (bits of food, plant
matter and feces) caught there. Trying to clean them was the pits. I
finally broke down every tank at the time and one by one removed them. I
just use gravel and a gravel vac now. I use HOB Aquaclears and have
been very satisfied with them.

Good advice, maybe I'll use whatever filter comes with the set up and a
gravel vac. I used one of them years ago with good success with the UGF
system I had then.

Grandpa John- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What a ****ing idiot you are old man. Must be a relative of TYNKs.

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:25:35 -0600, John DeBoo wrote:

Years ago I had two of these and they worked well. What books I've read
(published 1995 to date) seem to say they are good inexpensive filters
to use. However, in my trips to WalMart, a local fish store, Petco &
PetsMart, they seem to have all disappeared - else I'm blind.

Are these little hummers still available? Thoughts & comments on them
welcome.

I don't like them, but if you insist get the reverse UGF. You're much
better off with an Aquaclear.

On Sep 21, 3:25 pm, Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:25:35 -0600, John DeBoo wrote:
Years ago I had two of these and they worked well. What books I've read
(published 1995 to date) seem to say they are good inexpensive filters
to use. However, in my trips to WalMart, a local fish store, Petco &
PetsMart, they seem to have all disappeared - else I'm blind.

Are these little hummers still available? Thoughts & comments on them
welcome.

I don't like them, but if you insist get the reverse UGF. You're much
better off with an Aquaclear.

Undergravel filters can and do work well if they have sufficient flow
through them and to be honest the air line bubble type of flow is far
from being adequate. Stick an good Maxi jet or Mini Jet power head on
one and its good to go. IN saltweater setups they used to use a plenum
type affair which is similar to what a FW undergravel filter is, and
if it was provided with sufficient flow etc it too worked just fine.
However if it was not you had problems just oiek a FW under gravel
filter


The white bagged play sand sold ata home depot and that is typically
seen in cigarette ash trays outside commercial establishments works
great to mix in with and under fine gravel. Bout $3.50 a 50# bag.Its a
silica or actually a quartz based sand... I use a limestone sand sold
by Homedepot called Old Castle or southdown sand. Its the same sand
used by marine fish keeps. Its also about $3.50 a 50# bag, and its
perfect to use with mbunas or any of the malawi or rift lake fish.
This sand is uniform in size to what typical play or masonary sand is,
and is snow white in color but once in use it soon becomes a gran or
tan color. This sand is agreat buffer and it will not affect ph if
your ph is not too far out of wack normally. If its really on the low
or acid side it helps immensly.

They are still aound, but not very popular any more. They got a lot of bad
press when fanmcier (and much more expensive) alternates came out.
Undergravel filters are still a great low-cost option for drastically
increasing your biofiltration capacity. In my experience, they excel in
freshwater tanks, but are mediocre in sal****er.

However, you need sufficient water flow through the gravel. A decent
air-lift will do great if you regularly vacuum or stir up the gravel to
prevent "mats" forming and binding the gravel together. The gravel should be
stirred or vacuumed every week or two to ensure that it hasn't matted. Some
people have reported problems using undergravel filters when they have live
plants - they either can't keep the plants alive or clog the UG filter. I
simply put my plants in
shallow pots - this gives the plants a place to anchor, and provides
boundaries for the vacuum (I don't vacuum the pots so I don't disturb the
plants roots). It also makes it a lot easier to apply fertilizer (if you
want to).

I always use UG filters in all of my freshwater tanks. My filtration typical
setup is an UG filter and a canister (for particulates not biofiltration). I
have tanks from 5 gal through 125, and haven't had any water quality
problems. I use two lift tubes per UG filter, and make sure that there is
good airflow (small bubbles provide more lift per volume of air - as the
stones clog, you need to clean/replace them).

My personal opinion regtarding the decrease in popularity of UG filters is
because the sellers simply don't make as much money on them, and many of the
aquariasts today want things with a high "gizmocity factor". A UG filter is
simple, doesn't require much maintenance, and does what is supposed tp. But
it doesn't look impressive or give bragging rights about the $X,000
filtration system.....

-JD


"John DeBoo" wrote in message
. ..
Years ago I had two of these and they worked well. What books I've read
(published 1995 to date) seem to say they are good inexpensive filters to
use. However, in my trips to WalMart, a local fish store, Petco &
PetsMart, they seem to have all disappeared - else I'm blind.

Are these little hummers still available? Thoughts & comments on them
welcome.

Grandpa John

They are still aound, but not actual accepted any more. They got a lot of bad press if fanmcier (and abundant added expensive) alternates came out. Undergravel filters are still a abundant bargain advantage for drastically increasing your biofiltration capacity.