old useless undergravel filters?

[xander]

What have you done with old undergravel filters? I have one lieing around wand was about to toss it but thought there may be some use for it yet. Any ideas?

 

[amitnarain]

it can raise the height of the gravel in your tank.

just put it below and cover it with the substrate.

i have 1 question:
if one does the above thing it will mean that under the UGF there will be stagnant water (cause i do not think there will be water flow beneath the substrate and UGF). is that a good idea then?

 

[mr86mister]

no need to put it under the gravel, good idea though amitnarain

well usually there isnt much flow to begin with under the gravel so i dont beleive it would matter too much

 

[greenmaji]

Drip plates for a DIY Wet/Dry?

 

[amitnarain]

i wanted to know whether that liquid that would remain under the UGF in the above case can turn out to something nasty that may affect fish.

 

[Skyrmir]

I've heard it can become anerobic, but never seen it myself. I found the old UGF plates work well instead of using screens for breeding Danios. And probably other egg scatterers as well.

 

[greenmaji]

amitnarain.. is this what your trying to refer to?
Dr. Jean Jaubert's plenum method?
http://www.aquariumpros.com/faqpro/filtration_1.shtml#05208744
Ive never heard of it being attempted on a freshwater tank..

 

[jrp1588]

I think he's just wondering if the water under the filter will get nasty from lack of flow.

 

[rubysoho]

I just found a website recently about reversing the flow of the UGF, I will try and find it again, it was pretty cool.

 

[Guest]

if you leave the UGF without any water flow you will get anaerobic bacteria under the plate.. very not good.

 

[greenmaji]

if you leave the UGF without any water flow you will get anaerobic bacteria under the plate.. very not good.

That is actually the point of Dr. Jean Jaubert's plenum method.. the levels that are anaerobic are protected with screen so they dont get disturbed and it is used to remove NO3 from the tank like a DSB.. Its a SW technique that I have not heard of being used in FW..

 

[greenmaji]

I just found a website recently about reversing the flow of the UGF, I will try and find it again, it was pretty cool.

Reversing the flow is what was done just before the UGF's were put out of commision.. they used PH with sponge prefilters that forced water up through the gravel.. for some reason gunk always was in the top 1/4" on these tanks.. I always wondered why it didnt stay closer to the surface..

 

[Guest]

if you leave the UGF without any water flow you will get anaerobic bacteria under the plate.. very not good.

That is actually the point of Dr. Jean Jaubert's plenum method.. the levels that are anaerobic are protected with screen so they dont get disturbed and it is used to remove NO3 from the tank like a DSB.. Its a SW technique that I have not heard of being used in FW..

i just read that its bad to leave those anaerobic pockets.. isn't that why its good to stir up sand substrate?

 

[greenmaji]

Yes that is why you would stir sand or gravel for that matter, it is so anaerobic pockets that can become exposed do not do so.. this biological filtration method is for making a place to cultivate and protect the anaerobic bacteria.. It is much like the DSB method wich there is a SW monster island thread devoted to the subject.
This technique isnt new.. there is alot written about the subject.. here is a google search on "Dr. Jean Jaubert Live Sand Biological Filtration plenum" very specific to try to limit the results some..

 

[Guest]

i guess it would be good if you were really careful and knew what you were doing, but i think id wind up exposing some of the pickets when i do gravel vacs and stuff and i know that realease toxins into the water that are produced by the anaerobic bacteria down there.

 

[rubysoho]

no idea, greenmaji but this guy was using it in goldfish tanks and it helped make it easier to collect all the gunk and keep the tanks cleaner. Now I can't find that website...wish I had bookmarked it earlier because I thought about posting it here as "food for thought." Ah well...

 

[greenmaji]

By the way.. I am not encouraging everyone to grab there UGF filter plates to build a plenum system.. first off I would suggest that if anyone is thinking about doing this please do alot of research.. It might not be feasible with a FW system for some reason I am not aware of.. I did hear rumors of african cichlid tanks that were being filtered this way but I didnt see any documentation of such endeavors. 8O