I have no problems whatever with my UGFs. The aquaria are
remarkably stable, even though I travel extensively for periods
of a couple weeks at a time. When both my wife and I are gone,
a friendly neighbor comes by every few days to check for dead
fishes which, of course, might foul the water. I keep a BRIGHT
flashlight at hand for her to use. Each aquarium has a battery-powered
automatic feeder also, which appear to be quite adequate when I'm
away.
This will soon be put to the test, though, since I'm leaving for the
Isle of Man on 31 May (for the TT motorcycle race week), then
London (business meetings), then Paris, then Le Mans (for the 24 Hours
race), then up to Stockholm (to help the Swedes celebrate the Midsummer
holiday on 23 June), then over to Finland ( more business meetings), then
back to the U. S. for a few days with friends at East Hampton LI NY, then
to Morristown NJ to visit our youngest son and his family, then to a car
owners club convention in the Hudson River valley (Saab cars), and
finally back to our home in Santa Barbara on 10 July. Frankly, it makes
me a little tired just thinking about all the above!
Bob Sinclair
Santa Barbara CA
* * *
"Hoover, Jan J WES" wrote:
> Bob -
>
> My mistake. I should have written "plate- and foam-type filters." The foam
> filters I was referring to were those made by Jungle. They come (or came)
> in two sizes and shapes - a small, circular model (the Junior Dirt
> Magnet)and a larger triangular model (Senior Dirt Magnet). I purchased some
> about a year ago so I assume they are still being manufactured.
>
> They're really simple. The foam fits around a small plastic cylinder. Air
> goes into the top of the cylinder and exits through in a tube around the
> airline. Slots in the base of the cylinder allow water movement through the
> foam. Filter could sit on top of gravel, but I always buried mine in a
> corner to get filtration through a portion of the gravel in the tank (what
> portion I cannot say but I assume about a third of the area in small tanks).
> Every few months I dig it up and and squeeze it out under running water.
> When used this way, its better to have coarse gravel to keep the slots in
> the base from getting clogged.
>
> According to my memories of the filter's packaging in the 60's, it was
> supposed to filter by "rotifer action." My own sponge squeezings do contain
> some rotifers, but mostly I've seen ciliate protozans, so I assume most
> filtration is by protists and bacteria.
>
> I do not know too many people who use these anymore, but the largest
> aquarium store in St.Petersburg Florida (in the 1960's) used nothing but
> dirt magnets in all their tanks.
>
> - Jan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Sinclair
> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 9:11 AM
> To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> Subject: Re: NANFA-- Plate and foam type?
>
> Jan:
>
> I'm not familiar with a "plate and foam (dirt magnet) UGF. I have
> UGFs on two aquaria, a 10 gallon and a 20, but they simply provide
> a space beneath the gravel and operate with powerheads on vertical
> tubes. Please explain, as the foregoing is the only type I'm aware of
> at my local aquaria shop.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bob Sinclair
> Santa Barbara CA
>
> * * *
>
> "Hoover, Jan J WES" wrote:
>
> > Undergravel filters have worked pretty well for me. I use the plate and
> the
> > foam ("dirt magnet") types.
> >
> > In December I set up a 29-gal native fish tank at a school. Tank houses
> > about 25 fish (minnows, madtoms, darters, sunfishes) and is
> enthusiastically
> > fed twice daily by 5th and 6th graders. Water is clear, pH neutral, and
> > fish happy. The only filtration is a plate-type UGF.
> >
> > For an aquarium in a public setting, UGFs are nice because they are low
> > maintenance and it is obvious when they are not working (and the problem
> is
> > often easily corrected). For non-aquarists, getting siphons started,
> > remembering to change media, and noticing if the filter has stopped
> running
> > (and correcting the problem) can seem challenging.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bruce Stallsmith
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 7:59 AM
> > To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> > Subject: Re: NANFA-- Local Park Aquarium
> >
> > I would agree with Martin the Moore, esp. on the biowheel filters. I have
> > two of them now, one on a 10 gal. and one on a 30 gal., and they are very
> > efficient at keeping the water clean.
> >
> > --Bruce Stallsmith
> > Huntsville, AL
> >
> > >Quoth Wade Hedgren regarding NANFA-- Local Park Aquarium:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Right now they have a UGF with 2 powerheads as the only filtration.
> > > > So... I would like to open up the debate again... "to UGF or to not
> > > > UGF".
> > >
> > >Sh*t-can the UGF. I abandoned these years back because you
> > >cannot use enriched substrata (conducive to plant growth) with a
> > >UGF. Also, fry tend to get sucked under the plates. And they're
> > >just plain ugly. For small tanks I use Penguin filters with biowheels.
> > >For large tanks (55gal +) go with fluidized bed.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Prost,
> > >
> > >Martin
> >
> > ________________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
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