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[APD] Re: RUGF
A couple years ago I built an air-powered RUGF just for fun out of
drop-ceiling "Egg-crate", crafters' plastic canvas, 1" filter tubing, and 3/4" pvc
elbows for a 30-gal standard tank. I remember using methylene blue to time flow
and using tube cross-section area, figured a flow rate of 35 gallons per hour,
without airstones. I can't remember whether it was total for two sides or per
side. I'm not a plant guru, but Vals and Crypts did good, and whatever kind
of Aponogeton bulbs it was I had shot up and blossomed. 2x30watts t-8 Tritons,
Natural Gold fertilizer and a substrate made of pumice, peat, and
pyrophilitic clay.
There is, or was, a diagram of it on the Krib courtesy of Erik O. The only
problem I had with it was a small level of fractionation leaving stains of
expelled organic compounds on the wall behind the tank above where the air came
out. I recommend building a catcher of some sort to divert the spray down into
a collector.
The big advantage to air-power was the cost and the flow control. It also
doesn't clog, because the fish-pooh ends up under the plate instead of in the
gravel bed. The disadvantage is that you have to build the things yourself.
You can use a conventional UGF plate without a problem, but you have to find the
elbows, street-l's, and tees, as well as the extra tubing.
Bob Dixon
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