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Whatever happened to Under Gravel Filters ?

I don't agree, I think that ten x flow coming up through a well designed filter plate & an open substrate like cat litter would offer vey good distribution, I have already experimented but not with anything long term.
I have a thread on this forum somewhere....
The tank might still require additional flow, this is something I would have to experiment with but I don't think you would even need perfect even flow up through the UGF, especially if you had additional flow.
Most of the methods we use don't offer a very even distribution, a spray bar is good but you loose a lot of gas on the surface & it requires very good pressure to work well!
Distribution is one of the main issues we come across, have the C02 rising evenly from the bottom (if it is possible) makes very good sense to me!
 
Seems to me that if the Co2 is coming through the substrate any dissipation would happen evenly across the bottom and not in the general water column . To get this to happen is obviously a task for the more technically minded amongst us - but it's a lot of work if it doesn't make any noticeable improvement . On the plus side it wouldn't need stripping down as it would stabilise the substrate whatever !!


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foxfish said:
I don't agree, I think that ten x flow coming up through a well designed filter plate & an open substrate like cat litter would offer vey good distribution, I have already experimented but not with anything long term.
I have a thread on this forum somewhere....
The tank might still require additional flow, this is something I would have to experiment with but I don't think you would even need perfect even flow up through the UGF, especially if you had additional flow.
Most of the methods we use don't offer a very even distribution, a spray bar is good but you loose a lot of gas on the surface & it requires very good pressure to work well!
Distribution is one of the main issues we come across, have the C02 rising evenly from the bottom (if it is possible) makes very good sense to me!
Click to expand...

I was using three aquaclear 802's to power the UG in reverse flow in 75 gal tank and another approx 800GPH from two aquaclear 110's with fairly large gravel .
Cat litter and some of the specialty substrates would I fear, be too light with the flow proposed.
 
Basically I laid a perforated PVC plate on top of the pipe with a few centre support & with the holes in the pipe facing inward the upward flow seemed to work very well!
So the water was taken from the surface overflow (on the right) & sent back into the pipes under the gravel via a needle wheel pump fed with the C02.
 
I used interlocking plates and mesh with soil/moss peat. It effectively gave me two oxidised microzones and roots penetrated the void below (which did not clog) and grew sorta hydroponically.
 
Think I certainly opened a can of worms with this topic ! Excellent feedback - more questions now than there is answers !


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