sponge filter vs ugf?

[Kathy F]

On 3/29/2022 at 8:57 AM, Widgets said:

 

How does the gunk you vacuum out from your UGF compare to the gunk you get when you squeeze the sponge to clean it? 

It takes 2 minutes to clean a sponge filter but gravel vacuuming that tank takes 10 minutes to do properly and my hands are in the muck a lot longer to deal with the mess.    I probably do a full gravel vacuum once every 2 weeks which is about how often I clean my sponge filters.   

[Brandon p]

You should not have to vac the gravel much at all. With plants you some of that to help break down the nitrogen for the plant use and more keep the good bacteria going strong

[Widgets]

On 3/29/2022 at 4:21 PM, Brandon p said:

You should not have to vac the gravel much at all. With plants you some of that to help break down the nitrogen for the plant use and more keep the good bacteria going strong

In my current Community Therapy tank I cannot vacuum the gravel. There are so many plants that there is no open sections where I could vacuum.

[Brandon p]

On 3/29/2022 at 8:42 AM, Kathy F said:

Sponge filters are more versatile.    You can move them from tank to tank, change PPI from fine to very porous or change filtration type completely.  Once an UGF is set up short of a complete tear down that sucker is in there for good.   I'm always grossed out when I gravel vac my UGF tank.   The gunk that comes out of that substrate is unbelievable and it is the only tank I own that I dread gravel vacuuming.  Having said all that, the UGF works really well.  I do also run a HOB that is just filled with polishing pads so I can have some mechanical filtration but that is the only addition I did to my UGF tank.   I would not run UGF in a fry tank mainly because it deprives the fry of a food source.   They like to eat gunk off the sponge filter but as long as you provide them adequate food the lack of this food source is probably not that huge of a deal.   

 

UGF have been used with UGF’s for breeding a fry for many years. Fry should have plenty of junk with hardscape and plants

[gardenman]

Gunk can be good. It supports all kinds of life. If you have a lot of gunk in your tank, you're less likely to have an ich outbreak as the stuff living in the gunk will feed on the ich cysts that fall to the bottom of the tank and baby ich and prevent them from growing and maturing. And what is the gunk? It's either bacteria or food for bacteria. We need good bacteria in our tanks so leaving the gunk in place can be beneficial. 

In the outdoor gardening world, we spread compost, manure, and other organic stuff into our soil to help our plants grow. That's pretty much what natures does with the gunk in our aquariums. Gunk is more good than bad.