[Guto]

First I would like to thank all You experts and hobbists out there for the help, sharing oppinions and experiences.

When I first installed my tank some 6-8 months ago, I listened my LFS, and installed an UGF. It's a 55 gal tank, with live rock, a protein skimmer and a canister filter. I'm starting to put some corals by now, along with some fishes.
Now, reading the discussion boards, it seems that the general opinion its against UGF's.
What shoul I do ?
1. Just let it be there ? I'm affraid that it would cause more harm than good, since I can't vacuum the gravel under and behind the LR
2. Just turn off the powerhead connected to it, and let it under the gravel ? Woul it cause any harm since the debris under the filter would stop to have water circulation ?
3. Pull out my live rock, pull out my UGF, and vacuum clean the gravel before I have a lot of corals and it's impossible to do this ?

Thanks in advance for Your help

Gunther

[scubadude]

Hi Guto [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Welcome to Reefland!

I went through the EXACT same thing you are going through, but with my 90 gal tank [img]/ubb/eek.gif[/img] I strongly urge you to get a rubbermade to hold all your livestock in while you take the UG filter out....and I would go with a 4" + DSB (not gravel, it must be the right grain size) then seed it with lots of life. I could elaborate more but you probably have read about DSB's ? If not then just let me know and me or someone else here can point you in the right direction.....I would definately rip that UG filter up though HTH [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Sker]

^^^^^^^^ Second Scubadude!

Sker

[SPasse]

Guto,

I would actually advocate another option:

Replace Pull out my live rock, pull out my UGF, loose the canister filter and set up a Deep Fine DSB (Deep sand Bed)

Your LFS may be agreeable to “baby sit” any critters during this conversion.

Mechanical and trickle filtration is no longer in vogue, and most reef tanks today use just live rock, live sand, protein skimming and/or algae filtration.

Whatever you do, do not just turn off the pump on the UFG. The gravel in may harbor a considerable amount of detritus and turning off an established UFG will cause is to go anaerobic to the point where it can wipe out a system.

This was quite common in the UFG systems when a AC power loss would cause these system crashes.

In the US, we typically use a sand product called “Southdown Tropical Play Sand” for our Deep Sand Beds. But this will be problematic to obtain in you country.

Assuming Caribsea product is available, I would recommend a 4 to 6” bed, constructed one of the following mixes:

#1 100% CaribSea Aragamax Grand Bahama Sand Product # 931 (30lb Bag)

#2 100% CaribSea Sugar Size Oolitic. The (Non-Select Grade)

If you would like to discuss DSB construction in greater detail, you can also e-mail me and/or visit my WEB site.

Regards,

Scott

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The definition of an expert is a washed-up drip under pressure.
You can see my reeftank at http://www.homestead.com/spasse/