is my under gravel filter working?
by Aquaboy on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | 2 Comments
my dad gave me an aquarium thats really nice and he got it about 20 years ago. it has a custom undergravel filter with it. i think the filter is working, i cleaned it and everything, but i also have sand. will it still work with sand?
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as long as the sand is the very corse kind it will work
They don’t work very well with sand, because the sand usually falls down through the openings in the plastic base. If you can see under the tank, you should be able to see if there’s a lot.
The way an undergravel works is that they use an air pump [old way] or a powerhead [newer method] to pull water and wastes down through the gravel then under the plastic base where there are bacteria to remove the ammonia and nitrite. Then the water gets pulled up the tubes to the top and goes back out into your tank. If the space under the UG base is filled with sand, the water and wastes won’t flow through very easily. And because wastes build up under the base, you do need to pull it up and clean underneath every few months.
It would be best to save up to get a hang-on power filter. It’s more powerful than an air-driven undergravel filter, and the filter pads are outside the tank where they’re easier to clean when they need it. You do this by rinsing them in the bucket when you do a partial water change. If you clean them in tapwater, the chlorine will kill the good bacteria living on the filter. You only need to change the pads when the floss starts pulling apart.