neat filter design

[budwick weiser]

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ug_jets.php

i just decided that i'm going to do this in my 100 gallon... anyone else made this? how's it working?

[Goathead]

Ive never even seen it until today, but it looks like a cool idea. I cant see many benefits to filtering with UGJ but im probably just missing them. Good luck with them and keep us posted.

[AndrewH]

http://www.dfwfishbox.com/showthread.php?t=263

Here you go guys. ;)

[AndrewH]

Ive never even seen it until today, but it looks like a cool idea. I cant see many benefits to filtering with UGJ but im probably just missing them. Good luck with them and keep us posted.

It's technically not a filter. It directs "jets" of water (under gravel jets) across the substrate to keep junk from building up/settling. Then your normal filtration system(s) filter it out.

[mongo]

I saw something siliar, except the system was all enclosed. They had drilled small holes along the length of the PVC causing small jets all over the place. These were drilled so they pointed down on to the bottom of the tank. It would keep all of the particulate matter suspended so the filters could suck it in and then you just had to clean the filter. This was basicaly a reversed UGF. I dont think it would work with a sand substrate, but using gravel would keep the debris from building up. I have never tried it, but it looked like it would work ok.

[tsunderl]

Cleaning the gravel was the one thing I absolutely hated. Think I'll set one of these systems up when I set up my tank. Thanks for the info!

[bra8ndy8]

Could you not just hook powerheads really low hooked up to your undergravel????

[kewlkatdady]

Could you not just hook powerheads really low hooked up to your undergravel????

If you use an ugF, you want the debri to settle...thats the design.

If you are using overflows, canisters, or power filters a reverse UGF or power heads aiming very low at your substrate or a UGJ system is prefered in order to keep the debri suspended so your filter can "grab" the debri and filter it out of the water.

[bra8ndy8]

Awww...thanks for that!!!

[kewlkatdady]

ne time

[fishyjoe24]

now that interesting.

[AndrewH]

There are several pros and cons to each different system... (this is from the advice from others and reading on the net, I haven't tried any of these systems, mainly for the very last CON).

UGF (under gravel filter)
As we all know these are pretty bad at building up a toxic level of pooh over time and a pain in the ars to clean. They generally work by sucking water (and whatever is in the water, like food, pooh, etc.) down through the substrate. Can be the inlet side of a power head/pump, or air powered. Another draw back is you almost have to use gravel.

The major PRO is this type of filter turns your entire gravel bed into your bacteria growing site and filter. I could see one of these working well in a small tank with NO live plants and very little decor because everything in the tank would need to be removed once a month to clean it properly. And you wouldn't want to clean all of it at once. Maybe 1/2 this week and 1/2 in two weeks to keep from killing all of your bacteria at once.

RUGF (reverse under gravel filter)
As you may have guess is the exact opposite of the above. Typically you would use the same "crate" things like an UGF, but flowing them in reverse. Though there are other methods that work better. It uses a power head/pump to push water through (from the bottom to the top) the gravel to keep food, pooh, etc. off of the substrate so it can be filtered out. But requires a very large power head/pump or two as the entire bottom of the tank is the "piping". As you may have figured out, both of these don't do well at dealing with sand as a substrate. Another draw back is you almost have to use large gravel to allow the water to flow correctly.

Major PRO, if put in the correct tank, can work really well at keeping everything off of the substrate and in the filter where it needs to be.

UGJ (under gravel jets)
This system is somewhat like an RUGF, but there aren't holes in the pipes under the substrate. You actually bring the ends of the pipes above the substrate (normally they'll be hidden by rocks, plants, bog wood, etc.) and they "flow" water over the substrate to not allow food, pooh, etc. to settle on top of the substrate.

Some of the problems with this system are the number of jets you'll need to get around, over, and through all of your decor in the tank. The more jets you have the more power you need to push these jets. One solution Travis stated (in the link I posted above) is to make the holes at the end of the pipes smaller. Which sounds like it would work great.

Major PRO, if put in the correct tank, can work really well at keeping everything off of the substrate and in the filter where it needs to be. And should be the only one outta the three to handle sand substrate.



One major CON for all of these systems is they're not that well suited for planted tanks. The plants roots will get tangled up in anything under the substrate and most plants will not like water flowing over their roots (like with an UGF and RUGF), but the UGJ might work for this CON. But there would need to be a lot of jets to clean around, behind and between all of the plants for an UGJ system to work making them somewhat unpractical for use in a planted tank. That's not to say any of them cant' be done, but you might run into some problems.



My personal opinion is an RUGF and UGJ would work great on a non-planted to lightly planted gravel substrate tank. And the UGJ system would work great on a sand substrate as long as there aren't too many obstacles.

And by no means am I an expert on this subject(s). These are just my observations, research, and advice I've received. Hope it helps someone else :D

[AndrewH]

Oh and another CON for some of these systems you may want to take into consideration before installing... these systems might be bad for bottom dwellers.