Removing UGF

[roscoe]

I currently have a freshwater tank 100 gal 72"x21"xi16" UGF & Cascade 1200 canister filter, 50 watts of light, 250 watt heater, 2 bale Sharks, 8 serape Tetra, pair of Yellow Top labidochromis, 1 unknown African cichlid, 1 electric yellow, 1 melanochromis auratus, 1 pseudotropheus demasoni, 1 petricola cat
Current test kit results:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20 ppm
ph: 200 ppm
KH 6.4 dKH
The tank is about 2.5 months

My plan is to remove the UGF because of maintenance and digging issues.
What would be the best way to do this?

The canister filter pumps 315 gph and seems to be running strong. Would I need to add some other means of filtration or do you think the canister filter can handle it? If so what do you recommend? Should I add a few PH for water movement?

TIA.

 

[Endgame319]

I have no exp with UGFs on larger tanks, but couldn't you just pull it out and then fix the gravel?

And yes you will need another filter for your tank, try a power filter like an Aquaclear 500, Penguin 330, or Emperor 400.

 

[flipz]

Just to addon to what endgame said, you want the tank water to turn over 10 times per hour, or somewhere around there. So on your 100 gal you would want approximetly 1000 gph total! Maybe that's a little overkill for you, but it is what's generally recommended.

I also have no experience with UGF's. I can see it being messy, but I also don't see why you can't just pull it out. Would FOR SURE get another filter on there before you do it though, because it will probably get crap all over the tank when you pull that UGF.

Good luck!

-brent

 

[CiRXSi]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=24719&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=


I just took mine out of my 55. There are a lot of issues with your good bacteria when doing this (as you'll see by reading the above thread), and I would be especially careful with yours being you have a fairly young tank. I would try to keep as much water as possible, but yours won't be quite as messy as mine. I had my UGF for 2 years. Yours shouldn't be that messy. You do definately need more filtration. I would get yourself up to 600 gph absolute minimum. Any of the above filters that Endgame319 suggested would be a good addition to your canister. And as long as your redoing everything, here's what I did. I didn’t necessarily need the power head outlet from my canister, so I added this. Keep in mind this is an add-on. This doesn’t add more gph. Just adds an extra step of filtration coming out of your canister.


http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22313;category_id=1729;pcid1=2885;pcid2=

 

[poikilotherm]

I have taken half of mine out of my 29. I am waiting for my biowheel to mature more before taking out the other panel. Make sure you have biological filtration before proceeding- will your canister filter alone provide this? Do you have biological media- e.g. ceramic doodads?). You may want to get a HOB biowheel to run for a while first if you're not convinced of your canister's biological filtration capacity.

Removing UG is messy. I would take it out one panel at a time. Gravel-vac the panel you want to remove, then clear the gravel off it. Gravel-vac it again to clear some of the crap under the panel more thoroughly, then remove the panel. Then put the gravel back (I am using a much thinner layer without the UG). Wait until the water clears and your tenants are happy again before doing the next panel.

Good luck!

 

[powderbluetang]

i highly reccomend on not removing the ugf because of the good bac. if you are trying to breed one thing you could do i just take a piece of nylon and place it over the bottom so your eggs are protected from falling to the bottom. there is also a lot of fish waste and old food at the bottom that is good nutrient for live plants. again i high reccomend against removing the ugf. one thing that will keep stuff from out of the bottom is it is a reverse flow powerhead it is only available on the bigger models but i highly recommend this.