biological filtration help

[TracyRee]

I'm thinking of getting rid of my undergravel filter (well, removing the tubes and not using it anyway...it would be WAY too big of a project to actually remove the filter plates)

Anyway, reason is I am having terrible algae growth on the gravel and I suspect it the ugf causing it.

I JUST cleaned the tank yesterday, 35% water change and lots of gravel cleaning, but there is new algae all over the gravel already. I think the ugf encouranges algae growth by sucking the fish waste into the gravel.

So.....I need a new form of biological filtration. Obvious choice would be a biowheel, but the tank is 2 inches from the wall. I have a canister filter, so we butted it as close to the wall as we could.

Can't move the tank because I'm 8 months pregnant.

Any ideas? Think I'm on track with the ugf being the cause?

 

[TracyRee]

hmm... i just looked up the bio-wheel pro....it may not need any space behind the tank...anyone have one that can tell me ?

 

[jsoong]

You could put some biomedia inside the canister & get your biobugs growing there. Actually, I read that activated carbon has enough surface area to act as good biomedia, so you can use that instead of shelling out $20 for biomedia for the canister. (Of course, you can't change the carbon if you are using it as biomedia!)

I think Marineland also sells a biowheel for canisters. You could hook one up above the tank if you like. Or, you can go whole hog & get a sump/wet/dry setup under the tank.

Finally, another option is to make your UGF reverse flow. That is, hook up your outflow from the canister to the UGF plates. the revers flow blows the gunk out of the UGF, to be picked up by the canister intake.

 

[TracyRee]

I thought that under the ugf would be loaded with visible gunk, but I looked under the tank and it looks pretty clean.
I think teh problem with my ugf is that I have the gravel too thick and have too many large rocks covering the surface.

 

[TankGirl]

If this is an established tank you already have tons of biological filtration in place on every surface inside the tank and in the filter itself. I would not worry about it if the canister filter is large enough for the tank.

Also, the problem may not go away until the UGF plates are removed and the detritus is cleared from underneath. One thing you can try is to start a syphon using airline tubing and feed it through the opening for the tubes and underneath the plates, syphoning up as much gunk as you can. This may be very slow going but will at least handle some of the debris under there.

You may consider keeping the UGF if you do this frequently enough, or go with reverse flow, which involves a powerhead forcing the water up through the UGF in the reverse direction than you have with the air stone and pump method.

You should be okay for now with simply increasing your water change routine for the time being, since you have a lot on your plate (as you will in the near future ) so congratulations and the best of luck!