undergravel filter and sand

[fknuckles68]

When putting down and undergravel filter is there a way to keep a sand bottom from simply seeping through. Will this negate the whole purpose of the filter? And will it cause sand to enter the canister filters?

 

[Acer]

yah, from what i;ve heard sand and ugf dont go too good.. if you have canister filters you dont have to worry about needing any other types of filters..

 

[BillyZ]

From everything I've read and discussed on this forum, under gravel filters are more work and problems than they're worth.

Were you planning on having and live rock in the tank?

With LR and live Sand (all sand becomes Live sand eventually) you have plenty of filtration wont need to worry much about much more.. even canister filters.

Acer, why do you suggest a canister filter is all you'll ever need? there's still much more filtration necessary past mechanical filtration.

 

[Acer]

Acer, why do you suggest a canister filter is all you'll ever need? there's still much more filtration necessary past mechanical filtration.

your right.. i meant for the mechanical part anyway..

Acer, why do you suggest a canister filter is all you'll ever need?
could find this in my original post..

 

[Salttanker]

I would scratch the UGF before you start. As BillyZ stated, just get some LR to server as your biological filtration.

What size is your tank? If you take the tank size and multiply it by 10, it will give you a minimum GPH requirement. Maxijet series powerheads will help you out.

Mike

 

[seaham358]

Why do you want an UG filter? As the others said they cause problems in the long run by trapping waste which you can't clean unless you tear the tank apart. They are "old school" and are not used much any more.
Live rock and sand is the new school of thought. Do some reading on the site before you put the tank together.
Canister filters have there place, but are not all you will ever need or want. A lot depends on tank size.
Tell us what your setting up...

 

[fknuckles68]

Actually I am rebuilding my tank. I lost power for an extended period of time due to hurricane Wilma. The tank is a 55 gallon that I had set up as a reef. Currently it has a crushed coral bottom without an undergravel filter. All my previous tanks that I had had growing up always had UGF so i figured I should put one in. I thought it might help water circulation near the bottom of the tank. After more research I've decided against it. I've got about 50 pound of uncured rock and am going to get around 25 pounds of fine sand and 25 pounds of live sand.

 

[greenmaji]

dont worry about getting live sand.. LR will culture all your sand into livesand givin some time.. and its alot cheaper per pound.. get 55lb LR 55lb baserock and 50lb(or however much the caluclator linked above tells you for the desired depth) of playsand (southdown or yardright) and you should be set..
you can go with 1.5lb/gallon total on the LR/baserock but the more the better 2lb/gal is recomended.. for filtration that is.. givin the fish have pleny of room to swim.. HTH

 

[AMANIQU77]

I would suggest deviating from UGFs and UGJs while keeping sand. However, that's just my personal taste. Hows about HOBs or wet/dry?

Sorry about your restarting because of Hurricane Wilma. Hang in there!