Old school under gravel filter tank.

[Tropicaltanklover]

Started a new job in November 2021 and asked employer for permission to set up a tank in my office, which they allowed me to do and I set up in May 2022.
With the office having been refurbished on all 3 floors, I needed something that would (1) compliment the dark grey and charcoal furniture (2) be low maintenance (3) not flood the place.
So I purchased an ex display Aqua One Horizon 65l tank, cabinet and light. Filtration is under gravel using an old Hailea air pump with £10 ugf plates and uplift tubes.
7 pieces of pre packed dragon stone were purchased.
No heater as the office is always warm.
The substrate is just gravel with a few homemade root tabs
Started out with 6 Cherry Shrimp which now number at least 30 and 7 x Gold White Cloud Mountain Minnows.
Plants are a few Anubias from my tanks at home, moss, and a couple of Echinodorus. I know that the latter will be too large for the tank, but nothing is going to grow fast in their.
A 7 leaf cutting of Pothos is also being used to aid filtration.
I feed the plants once in a while with some diy fertilizer and so far so good.

 

[_Maq_]

The under gravel filters are often criticized. Plants allegedly suffer from water movement around their roots.
I'm curious to see further development.

 

[John q]

The under gravel filters are often criticized. Plants allegedly suffer from water movement around their roots.

You usually find the folks that criticise have a very limited understanding of the things they criticise. Under gravel filters are fine, and belive it or not... plants can grow in tanks with ugf's. @Tropicaltanklover love it mate, proper old school 👍

 

[_Maq_]

I don't know. But would like to know. That's why I'm curious.

 

[Gill]

Have kept many planted tanks over the years using UGF as well as Bio-orb. And plants do very well in those tanks.

 

[Tropicaltanklover]

When I told the store assistant at my local LFS that I setting up this tank with ugf she looked at me like I was crazy!
I use external filters at home (Oase Biomasters and a JBL) and love them. However, for the office, I wanted a planted tank that could survive without weekly maintenance.
3 months in, I am pleased with the results thus far viz. slow plant growth, breeding shrimp, clear water, colourful fish, and manageable green algae on the rocks, which I think looks good.

 

[_Maq_]

Have kept many planted tanks over the years using UGF as well as Bio-orb. And plants do very well in those tanks.

There are some well reasoned objections to UGF justified by science, ...

When I told the store assistant at my local LFS that I setting up this tank with ugf she looked at me like I was crazy!

... however the reality sometimes behaves as if it knew nothing about scientific impossibilities.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I don't think their is any intrinsic problem with an UGF. I can see that they might make some nutrients less available (like iron (Fe)), but they have a lot of biological filtration potential, mainly because you should have larger aerobic zone within the substrate and <"biological filtration is really all about oxygen">.

Personally I can't imagine ever using them again, but that is mainly because I now much prefer sand to gravel as a substrate, and I want <"natural processes"> (<"Aquarium Biofiltration - SWISSTROPICALS">) to occur in the substrate.

If I was to go back to keeping <"rheophilic fish"> (and <"rheophilic plants">) then an UGF and powerhead would still be an option.

An analogous process occurs in <"hydroponics">, including the technique used by <"Tropica etc. to grow aquarium plants">, where the rockwool provides a physical support and all the nutrients are supplied in the growing solution. In most cases uptake is by the roots, but <"foliar feeding"> may also be used.

If you think about a UGF it is a similar system, nutrient, and oxygen, rich tank water is continually pulled through the substrate (by the air bubbles rising in the uplift tube) allowing the plants to utilise both roots and leaves for nutrient uptake.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tim Harrison]

Really great to see an old school tank, just how I used to do them back in the day.

With regards UG filters, they always worked fine for me…

Dr Timothy Hovanec's comments about Bacterial supplements

All-important for what? The plants, or the nitrifying bacteria? Hi @lilirose As carbon is a fundamental element required by all living things, it applies to both of the above. But, I was specifically referring to the nitrifying bacteria. JPC

www.ukaps.org

 

[sparkyweasel]

Yes, they worked perfectly well for about thirty years, but then 'experts' decided they can't possibly work, 'because of science'.

 

[dw1305]

H all,

but then 'experts' decided they can't possibly work, 'because of science'.

Back <"to the experts">. As soon as you think about it, it makes no sense that you can't grow plants with a UGF.

@_Maq_ posted on oxygen transfer in sediments <"How deep does the dissolved oxygen penetrate?">. There definitely will be plants that grow better in an <"oxygenated sediment">, and we have lots of posts about <"stem plants growing roots">, and then there are always <"floating plants">. ...........

cheers Darrel

 

[_Maq_]

I wonder whether anyone has kept successfully with under gravel filter plants like Blyxa, Eriocaulon, Littorella, or Micranthemum, Elatine?

 

[mort]

Yes, they worked perfectly well for about thirty years, but then 'experts' decided they can't possibly work, 'because of science'.

Lots of things in this hobby seem to be cyclical, coming in and out of trend so it would be interesting if undergravel filters ever come back. In marines algae turf scrubbers and deep sand beds seem to come and go like the tides and at the moment the in thing seems to be stripping the water of everything so you can add the same stuff back in out of a packet.

 

[John q]

Plants allegedly suffer from water movement around their roots.

I wonder whether anyone has kept successfully with under gravel filter plants like Blyxa,

Hi @_Maq_ I didn't have access to any of these exotics when I had ugf's, so can't say for certain, but I'd imagine Blyxa would grow fine.

I'm assuming it's the water movement around the roots that you suspect would cause problems? If that's the case then I can definitely say this isn't an issue with Blyxa.

Photo of fairly healthy plant in question.

I'd say 75% of these plants roots are above substrate level. These aren't the best pics but hopefully you can see they are definitely not fully planted in the substrate and are subjected to a fair bit of water movement.

 

[ElleDee]

I had an undergravel filter for years as a kid when it was very unfashionable (my parents had used them in a previous era and missed the memo that they were out) and I had to quit telling the guys at the fish store that's what I had because they gave me so much grief about it. The filter worked great, they were totally wrong, and I'm still salty about it.

But that was in a fish-only tank. My concern with them in a planted tank would be that roots could eventually clog the holes in the plate and cause a major constriction or blockage. Fixing that would probably require a total teardown. But maybe that's not an issue? If people are enjoying their UGF in a planted tank I'm happy for my hunch to be wrong.

 

[John q]

Fixing that would probably require a total teardown.

Funny thing is back in the day I used to do a full tear down on a yearly basis, and by tear down I mean fish in the bath, tank and plate scrubbed with bleach and the gravel rinsed in a bucket. The plates did have roots stuck in them and I'd imagine if the tank had been heavily planted it could have caused an issue.
I actually shudder knowing what I did then, but surprisingly I had fish that lived for over 15 yrs.

 

[Tropicaltanklover]

I thought I would offer an update on my UGF... by way of photos

 

[Tropicaltanklover]

..... and this last photo.... I put on a filter and a soda stream CO2 kit, so it is no longer low tech UGF

 

[Oldguy]

Low Tec with UGF and 'root feeder' plants

 

[zozo]

I don't know. But would like to know. That's why I'm curious.

We all don't know... That's why you read so many times "No 2 tanks are the same." Many know UG can do good and some others know UG can go wrong... In between there are people who think their experiences and what they believe to know accordingly must be something universal and applicable to every situation and everyone else in the hobby. And only criticize certain concepts because of their own bad experiences with it. Or vice versa only good things because they never had a bad experience with it.

For example, when searching the internet for questions about and experiences with sump filters you can read many people who tried this concept criticizing it and advising against it because of the danger of flooding the sump, tank and even the floor of the room where all is situated and or complain about all kinds of weird noises.

So because it looks pretty easy they build a sump from scratch without enough experience and or knowledge of hydrodynamics and physics, overcomplicate the build and do it wrong. Then something gets dirty or it clogs, the dynamics change it starts to make weird noises and then something floods. The funny and pretty common is, that they fail to see they did it wrong can't think of anything else than what they did and blame the concept named Sump Filter. And say never again! Please don't build or buy sumps!

Maybe the example is a tad exaggerated because you can't do that many things wrong with a UG filter. But there could be several things wrong with several things why plants don't grow or grow in a certain way. Then if this occurs during the first time they tried a UG filter and this is what changed in their perception then what is changed obviously must be to blame. Meanwhile, many things can change in an aquarium that is not that obvious.