# UGF for planted tanks !?



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Great design! I can't see any way to improve on that. This seems to eliminate every problem that people used to have with under gravel filters. I assume the rear red spray bars are pointed up to establish a flow from the bottom to the top, across the tank and back down to the filter. Does this give enough circulation in the middle, near the bottom?

Do you really need to vacuum the filter sand every water change, or is this just good preventative maintenance? Are your water changes once a week?


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## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

i like this alot, could the front filter sand also be planted possibly? like with something that only has shallow roots?


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## jerp (Sep 12, 2009)

It's more of an in-tank fluidized bed filter than a UGF. That's very cool in any case. Would glosso, or some other non-rooting ground cover work on the open sand bed. maybe some freshwater clams. lol


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

Actually you don't NEED to vacuum the UGF every week (I normally do it every other week). I once let it be for 2 months, but then I could hear the pumps labouring to suck water. I found that the sand had impacted solid with the muck and as soon as it was vacuumed the pump went silent with relief. 

No, you can never plant on my UGF as you do need to vacuum it deep ever so often.

You guessed it right Hoppy-The out-put spray bar is faced upwards and slightly tilted to the front. The canopy of the plants directs the water forward through the plants. As I never find any muck on the floor under the plants, I take it for granted that the flow is a total movement from back to front. I once put some aquarium blue into the tank with an air tube right above the UGF. The entire aquarium went blue within minutes. I use this method when dosing my PMDD solutions.

BTW if you wish to see the tank, it is here with weekly updates:- http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...comparable-experiment-light-3.html#post974188


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## DesertAquariums (Dec 7, 2009)

Awesome idea:thumbsup:, I was wondering if you could incorporate an under gravel jet system to the tank as well? The point would be to get the water moving at ground level everywhere making sure that your UGF was the only place that trapped anything.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

I think smaller less frequent holes would maintain a higher pressure in the PVC for the RFUG.

This way the flow is more even across the sand bed.
You do not need high flow rates through this, about 2mm or so holes every 3-5cm distance is plenty.

With planted tanks, the roots have the surface area and the bacteria, so there's little need for high surface area media. It's fine to have a back up in case the plants do poorly, but it's not needed.

I used grid CPVC, a smaller version of normal PVC, for all my RFUG filters for about 20 years, cheaper than the brand name plates, plants did very well in them.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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