question on undergravel filter~

[go9ma123]

Aright. I'm new to this gravel filter. I have bought this undergravel filter. Looks like this.
http://www.petguys.com/-010838132650.html
It came with 2 air stones, 2 plate, 2 tube and 2 filters. I just went to store and bought air tube for undergravel filter. I placed 2 plates left side and right side. There were some space middle because my base was little big. After that I did put some ADA soil top of that. Hooked up my air tube for 20mins and no air seems to be coming out... Does it suppose to work right away or wait some time until pressure is pushing? When I took out the tube and just tested inside the water without hooking, it worked fine.

[illumnae]

it's probably not a good idea to use undergravel filters with ADA soil as the constant movement of water will probably end up causing your soil to erode faster. i think undergravel filters are meant for use with more traditional forms of substrate like lapis sand

[go9ma123]

it's probably not a good idea to use undergravel filters with ADA soil as the constant movement of water will probably end up causing your soil to erode faster. i think undergravel filters are meant for use with more traditional forms of substrate like lapis sand

But, I seen many people use undergravel filter and they were using ada soils.

[bossteck]

Is it going to be a planted tank? If it is, then under-gravel may not be a good choice.

Back to your question, this might seem to be a very silly question on my part, but did you connect an air pump to the air tube?

[go9ma123]

It is going to be planted tank. Mostly moss types. So most likely only small amount of plant will be planted. Yes I did connect the air tube. There is the big tube and inside there small air pipe with air stone. I did test if the air was working before I put them in. It was working. But, when I put them in the big tube. It doesn't work at all ...

[bossteck]

Hi,

Sorry I had to ask if you had an air pump, because some folks don't know how under-gravel filter works.

Since it is a planted tank, using air pump to create the up-draft in the larger pipe and drawing fish waste below the plates may not be a good idea as the air bubbles will create surface agitation which will led to co2 loss.

If you want to avoid that, you can consider connecting the inlet of a small powerhead to the larger plastic tube, the powerhead will basically do the same thing which the airpump will do, create the up draft which pull debris through your substrate to the area below your plates. The difference is, your powerhead can be completely submerged and this will minimize the surface agitation. More costly of course, compared to running an airpump.

You might want to check if the air stone is clogged, unlikely, but one plausible reason why no bubbles are generated, I suggest you soak the airstone in mild bleach solution, remember to flush them with clean water afterwards and give it a good soak in water + plenty of anti chlorine. That will probably unclog the air stone if it is clogged.

[go9ma123]

Wow. I found that I need a lot better air pump for these undergravel filter.