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essabee
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Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand.
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 Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:30 pm Post subject: UGF Zindabad |
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UGF is not fashionable and a much maligned system.
I am on the other hand a great fan of the UGF system. All my 10 tanks use UGF and most of them have been set/reset at least 3 years ago and there is no hint of ammonia and the water is crystal clear, the fishes are happy and active.
In March this year I had to reset a 250G which needed a scratchy front glass to be changed. Naturally I had to remove everything including the UGF. There was no muck under the UGF grid, only a little fine sand.
The entire matter appears to be how we set up a UGF. I don’t know about others but the way I set it up has been slowly evolved over my 40+ years of this hobby. I cannot imagine an aquarium without plants. So to allow me to grow plants I had to use soil in my substrate and naturally had to separate the UGF area from the planted area. I fell into a plan to use only 1/3 of the front floor for the UGF and the rest for soil substrate for the plants.
Fifteen years ago when small submersible pumps became available; my UGF became more efficient. I started using power-heads (total effective flow volume about equal to the tank volume) for sucking the water from UGF and constructing spray bars to reduce the turbulence. I hide the power-head at the rear corner of the aquarium and the spray bar along the rear bottom of the aquarium, point upwards angled a little to the rear.
I use the same grid most of the other users do, those interlocking plastic moulds, cheaper the better. I perhaps differ in connecting the suction of the power-head at multiple points, alternate squares of the interlocking grid using plastic pipes and T-joints and ending with an elbow. This enables evenness of flow.
I also differ at another point of setup; the first layer above the UGF grid is filter-floss sandwiched between 2 layers of nylon mosquito net; the second layer is ½†of very fine sand, the grade that they use for plaster; I put another filter-floss sandwich on top of that and then cover it with the aquarium grade gravel.
My UGF can even clear green water. I have made trials outdoors. I have set up the UGF and kept the aquarium where it receives the sun. I kept the UGF off till the water turned green and then put it on. The UGF made short work of the green-water.
Why not give the UGF a second chance? |
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saadali
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Joined: May 27, 2005
Posts: 497
Location: hyderabad, A.P.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:44 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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sounds interesting to me...need a better illustration on how to build an efficient UGF bro....
better explanation ....... a slow learner i am buddy............... 
a pictorial would be great........
looking forward to it |
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rahulk
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Posts: 951
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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| How do you clean the filter floss which ought to get dirty? |
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essabee
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Joined: Nov 14, 2006
Posts: 541
Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:05 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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| rahulk wrote (View Post):
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How do you clean the filter floss which ought to get dirty?
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The fine sand packs up and acts nearly like a ceramic filter. The filter floss under it does not get dirty enough to clean, my experience and observations. The aquarium grade gravel at the top and the filter floss under it requires regular cleaning. At every water change (My weekly 25% WC routine) I 'hoover' the gravel. i.e. I vacuum clean the gravel using a 500ml pet bottle with bottom cut off and the siphon tube attached to the neck. I push the bottom of the bottle into the gravel and lift it inside the bottle; the gravel fall back because of its weight and all the fine muck gets vacuumed off, quite easily done when you try it out.
Periodically in 6-8 months you would do a cleaning of the power-heads. I also do a reverse pumping into the suction of the power-heads to loosen the packed fine sand then.
It’s no more trouble than a canister filter. The actual cross section of the filter media in a canister cannot compare itself to area of a UGF. Neither can the entire volume of the filter media of a canister filter compare to the volume of the UGF media. And the best parts are that UGF is so easy to hide and so inexpensive. |
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nature_lover
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Joined: Feb 15, 2006
Posts: 2588
Location: Coimbatore
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:17 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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We had this discussion a long time back and I am still astonished about your dedication to possibly the cheapest form of filtration and its effectiveness.
I am not sure if you can post pictures, but it will be really helpful if you can.
Warm regards, |
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deepesh
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:40 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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Hi essabee
I think your UGF setup with the sandwich of (floss - sand - floss) on top of it provides good mechanical filtration along with the great biological filtration that UGFs are known for. Maybe that is why you are able to clear up the green water.
My question is almost the same as rahulk's above. Doesn't your floss get clogged? I would expect it to do so unless you had another mechanical filter running or were very regular about gravel vaccuming. My experience is that mulm appears all the time; more or less independent of the degree or effectiveness of the biological filtration.
I had been considering UGFs for my tanks but then as far as biological filtration is concerned I dont need any separate filter - my tank does it just as well without a separate filter.
The one tank that absolutely needs a filter is the barebottom tank. For those who do want filters - internal or external filters are just as effective and more convenient than UGFs.
deepesh
PS: Do ignore my post. By the time I composed and posted this you had already replied to some of my questions!! |
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trevor
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:01 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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Hi Essabee,
The UGF is cheap no doubt but is way outdated. Have you tried an Eheim 2217 or larger Eheim cannister filters. You should use similar tanks to compare the UGF and Eheim filters.
All or most of us have started our hobby on UGF.
I use a Eheim canister on a four feet tank with six frontosa. The 25% water change is done by siphoning out water from the top not the bottom. The fronts are constantly shifting the gravel from one place to another so the bottom gravel is very clean.
The Eheim cannister filter runs non stop and is cleaned once in eighteen months.
I doubt any filter can beat this for easy maintainability and crystal clear water clarity. |
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deepesh
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:06 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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Different strokes for diferent folks I guess!
deepesh |
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essabee
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Joined: Nov 14, 2006
Posts: 541
Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:38 am Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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| trevor wrote (View Post):
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Hi Essabee,
        The UGF is cheap no doubt but is way outdated. Have you tried an Eheim 2217 or larger Eheim cannister filters. You should use similar tanks to compare the UGF and Eheim filters.
All or most of us have started our hobby on UGF.
I use a Eheim canister on a four feet tank with six frontosa. The 25% Â water change is done by siphoning out water from the top not the bottom. The fronts are constantly shifting the gravel from one place to another so the bottom gravel is very clean. Â
The Eheim cannister filter runs non stop and is cleaned once in eighteen months.
I doubt any filter can beat this for easy maintainability and crystal clear water clarity.
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That word 'outdated' is a no-no word, or all grandfathers would be outdated. Yes they do get replaced by newer convenients. For the price of an Eheim canister I could build another tank for myself and get much more enjoyment from it than you get from the Eheim. |
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apollyon
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Location: Pune
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:54 am Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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IMHO the efficiency of a UGF would also depend on the kind of fish kept in the tank. What kind of fish do you have in your tanks?
Although all my tanks are bare bottom so I have no experience about UGF's. |
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trevor
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:23 am Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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| essabee wrote (View Post):
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That word 'outdated' is a no-no word, or all grandfathers would be outdated. Yes they do get replaced by newer convenients. For the price of an Eheim canister I could build another tank for myself and get much more enjoyment from it than you get from the Eheim.
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Hi Essabee,
I have to agree with you that the price of an Eheim cannister is a deep setback. That is why I have only one even though I have quite a few tanks.
All grandfathers are considered outdated. Even fathers are considered outdated by their offspring in this fast moving modern world IMHO.  |
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nature_lover
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:29 am Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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Hi Trevor,
Essabee belongs to the outdated generation, then - but still very young and enthusiastic at heart. |
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essabee
Regular Poster on IAH
Joined: Nov 14, 2006
Posts: 541
Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:24 am Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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I am superannuated and a grandfather several times over but I will dare you to motor-cycle cross country race when you visit Ranchi, Trevor. It will be I who will be moving too fast to be caught. 
Apollyon It does not matter what sort of fish is kept in the aquarium once UG filter system has cycled.
That was exactly what I was getting at when I was comparing the volume and the cross sectional area of medias in canisters to a UGF. Greater the area and volume - greater is the population of beneficial bacteria which remove the killer ammonia and dwarfing nitrites. A UGF has an immense capacity to handle the grossest fish population you can throw at it. |
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retro_gk
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Joined: Jul 09, 2003
Posts: 3496
Location: Trivandrum, Kerala
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:22 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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| essabee wrote (View Post):
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Apollyon It does not matter what sort of fish is kept in the aquarium once UG filter system has cycled.
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Actually, it does matter. Most large cichlids will make short work of what is on top of the filter plates when they decide to spawn.
The problem with UG filters is not ammonia or mulm, but nitrates. In most systems, nitrate levels will go through the roof after a month or so. In this particular system, the plants help to keep nitrates low. Water changes matter, too.
FWIW, nothing beats a good sponge filter+water changes when it comes to cost vs filtration efficiency. |
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essabee
Regular Poster on IAH
Joined: Nov 14, 2006
Posts: 541
Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject: Re: UGF Zindabad |
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| retro_gk wrote (View Post):
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| essabee wrote (View Post):
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Apollyon It does not matter what sort of fish is kept in the aquarium once UG filter system has cycled.
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Actually, it does matter. Most large cichlids will make short work of what is on top of the filter plates when they decide to spawn.
The problem with UG filters is not ammonia or mulm, but nitrates. In most systems, nitrate levels will go through the roof after a month or so. In this particular system, the plants help to keep nitrates low. Water changes matter, too.
FWIW, nothing beats a good sponge filter+water changes when it comes to cost vs filtration efficiency.
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Your large cichlids will get stumped at the top filter-floss sandwich. In non-planted aquarium the only way to controll nitrate is water changes anyway be the filter UG or canister. |
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