[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: To Undergravel Filter or Not?



>Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 08:31:59 -0500
>From: "John Pflum, Jr." <jpflumjr at pkgconsult_com>
>
>Thanks for the thoughts.  I have George's site up right now.  I have a
conference to go to
>out in Fort Collins next fall so I hope to get together with him.

George would be happy to have you (and anyone else in the Northern Colorado
area) visit. Drop me an e-mail beforehand to make arrangements.

>I looked at the Krib
>but they only had one small paragraph on it and did not really do into much
detail on it.
>I searched through the APD archives but did not find a whole lot of stuff
on it.


The Krib archive of my "SST" series has a chapter on Lessons Learned (part
9, maybe). It describes experiences with many different setups, including
UGF, and is the precursor to the PAM4 article on heating cables and Why I
Love Them.  UGF was fine also, just not very stable - required bi-yearly
gravel vacuuming to keep it happy. But it grew most plants like
gang-busters.

>I was thinking about just capping mine off like you did.  I have a Fluval
404 in my 75g
>tank so I don't think that I would need it for the biological filtration.
Have you
>noticed a lot of roots getting tangled up in the UG plates?  My tank has
been up and
>running for about a month now and I am seeing lots of runners and shoots so
I assume that
>the roots are doing the same type of expansion. ability to use substrate
fertilizers and
>amendments.


I wouldn't worry about roots getting caught in the UGF plate. If they get
torn when plants are pulled up for pruning, it's no big deal (you toss the
roots out anyway). If the plate gets clogged a little with the roots, no big
deal. You don't want a lot of flow anyway.

George Booth in Ft. Collins, CO (booth at frii dot com)
The web site for Aquatic Gardeners by Aquatic Gardeners
  http://www.frii.com/~booth/AquaticConcepts/