suemack Posted September 10, 2003 Report Share Posted September 10, 2003 I need some advice please - have 2 x 10 gall tanks with Aquaclear mini filters, airstones and UGF - 15%-20% water change every 2 to 3 days Both tanks have been running for 2 yrs & don't have any water quality problems - tanks are used for growing on guppy babies tho they have a few permanent residents (old gupps, cories, otos, kuhlis- between the tanks) Can I take UGF out without doing any damage or making the tanks run less efficiently? Reason for asking is that both tanks are planted and there must be a real mess under the plate by now - if not do you have to stip the tank down completely to clean under there - have tried but can't get anything under there- sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqua Posted September 10, 2003 Report Share Posted September 10, 2003 best bet would be to leave the UGF in... If you take it out, all the bugs that were growing underneath it will be set free, and you have mass fishicide happening... If you really really have to take them out, I think you'd need to completely strip the tank, and start from scratch, making VERY certain that the gravel has had a damned good wash/scrub etc... hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 Do you vacuum the gravel when you do water changes? If nothing is wrong with the tanks then leave the filters as they are. I have run UGFs continually for many years without cleaning them out - which requires a total tank strip. Some people say plants don't grow so well with UGFs but I never had a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 Hi Sue, You can do a 'partial' cleanup by pushing a siphon tube down the riser pipe and siphoning some of the rubbish off. The finger from a rubber glove with a hole in the tip will seal the pipe, then slip the rubber over the riser and suck... (QUICKLY he he) YUKKKK... you were toooo slow :) Now for the other three risers... Oh dear... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted September 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 hi - yes I do gravel clean when changing doing w/changes but can't do under planted area w/out uprooting everything - did that once - YUK - is it OK to leave those areas - they won't go rotten or anything? My UGF has those skinny little uplift things that you can't fit anything (hose) down. When I first set the tank up had no UGF and had real problems stabilizing it so put it in - NB - don't listen to local "expert" who tells you that is possible to put in UGF without taking out the fish and stripping down the tank!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 It should be fine as long as the pump works well to keep the water flowing through. I have never had an UGF go bad (fins crossed). How do you get an UGF into a tank which already has fish and gravel in it? Not easy but possible I guess. :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted September 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 not possible for me - and extremely messy - after about an hour of sweating and swearing and trying to move gravel to one side to the other and put down those little plastic grids AND connect them to each other w/out trapping a fish underneath I gave up - apologised to the fish - raced down to the LFS and got an ordinary UGF - came home - caught the fish - stripped the tank down - installed the thing - put the fish back - apologized to the fish again and collapsed in a heap on the couch - sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted September 12, 2003 Report Share Posted September 12, 2003 I sure hope you told the LFS person that it was not possible to do what they suggested. Cheers Suemack for persevering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted September 12, 2003 Report Share Posted September 12, 2003 You could very easily setup with no undergravel filter. Because you are doing waterchanges every 2-3 days your filter is probably doing very little biological work anyway. The plants probably use up all the ammonia waste products as they are produced. As long as the fish load is kept fairly light and you feed sparingly there will be no need for UGF. Keep the gravel depth to a minimum, - just enough to hold down the plants. Put a little potting mix right at the bottom to help the plant roots. Try one tank first. If there is a problem you can stick your fish into the other tank. You shouldn't have a problem however, all my tanks have no UGF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted September 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2003 thank you all for yr helpful ideas - had better not try w/out the UGF at present Warren cos :oops: at times my tanks get a little overcrowded - have a very fluctuating population in all my tanks with growing on guppy babies. Frequent feeding and waterchanges seems to give me the best growth rate - was just a bit worried about dead patches in the tank where the plants are - sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted September 12, 2003 Report Share Posted September 12, 2003 Its good you lots of frequent water changes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted September 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2003 learned the hard way that without frequent w/changes the tank turns toxic really quick - sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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