![]() ![]() “ The brown filter sludge in a filter is for the most part alive and not simply waste. The brown “gunk” in the gravel isn’t fish feces or “accumulated nitrates”, it is a “brown gunk” (my term for a type of biofilm) filled with beneficial bacteria and many other beneficial organisms which are very good for your aquarium (“beneficial bacteria ain’t pretty”).įrom the Poret Foam Supplier (Swiss Tropicals): Under-gravel filters are great for biofiltration (the media volume is second only to sumps) and crystal-clear water AS LONG AS YOU DON’T CLEAN THEM BUT EVERY FEW YEARS. Placidochromis blue otter Under-gravel Filters and Biofiltration I had them in sixteen tanks and loved them. ![]() “Old technology” like under gravels have only been superseded by our need for shiny new things and expensive “must-haves” that we do not really need. Put a powerhead on them and they become even better biofilters. If you just leave them alone, they are a great, inexpensive filter with a huge bioload capacity. Note that if you clean under gravels frequently, they are a pain in the butt and do not work. External filters frequently leak but under gravels cannot leak. If one can get five years out of most canisters and HOBs, you are doing well. I have been using some under-gravel filters for some thirty years and they are still working well. ![]() Air operated under gravels have no moving parts that need replacing. Most shops do not promote them because it is a onetime low profit purchase with no return business. Note the brightest, most honest fish keeper in the business, Cory of Aquarium Co-op, recommends under gravel filters. Under gravel filters are still one of the best forms of filtration out there. ![]() None of these points withstands scientific scrutiny. So one is left with common sense and anecdotal “testing” as the only sources of information in the analysis below.Īquarium equipment manufacturers and fish stores who want to sell expensive canister filters (ah, the profit motive at work!) have invented a whole host of negative points about under-gravel filters. Undergravel filters have not been widely tested as a filter in the aquaculture industry, The limited testing done on gravel filters for aquaculture was “all over the map” due to the very high loading of commercial operations. ![]()
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