opening a can of worms

[drzeus]

I have sort of decided on getting the Eheim & MP 80x35x40 kit (http://www.eheim.de/f/eheim.htm (in French) any opinions on that setup?)   - it seems to be the best around here and buying the setup separately comes out to about the same money so ...
However, the guy at the shop 1. reckons the eheim 2010 filter included may not be ok for a planted tank, 2. is pushing me to buy a UGF too.  I keep seeing bits about ugf's and planted tanks, but there is so much about it I cannot wade through it all.
Can I do a planted tank without UGF?   Will the Eheim filter be OK?  The Amano pages i read dont have UGF, they have an external canister.  I am not sure if the guy will let me have a canister instead of the package filter, without having to pay for that on top.  And I am trying to keep the budget low so i will have some money left for plants!
What do you folks reckon?

 

[arcab4]

this is my personal experience with amano-style tanks.

my tank was a 29gallon. i had 110watts of lighting. with that much lighting, you definately need to add c02 which i did. my substrate was made of 100% flourite. my filtration? a eheim 2224 canister filter.

i have pictures of my tank somewhere on this board. probably under "got comments". take a look at them. you don't want to use a UGF in my opinion.

 

[ronrca]

In terms of filters, there are many good filters around eheim being one of the best and of course most expensive.

I agree with Arcad, stay away from the ugf. It sucks all the garbage to the bottom, into and under the gravel. It is not good for the roots of the plants to have water flowing through the gravel bed. I try to picture it like in the wild. No ugf there.

 

[Matt Nace]

An Under gravel filter uses the gravel or substrate as the biological (and somewhat mechanical) filter. In order for it to work properly, you need a thinner layer of gravel than you would want in a planted tank. That is the biggest problem.
     Also where ever you have plants, that part of the UGf is dead so to speak from the plant blocking the flow through the gravel. A thick layer of gravel makes the UGF not work as efficient either.Plus any waste or plants that may have decayed or whatever blocks the UGF unless vaccumed out regularly.

 So a nicely planted tank is hard to do(although it has been done according to posts I read) with a UGF.
 Also The plant's roots like a sub-aenerobic condition which a UGF would do the opposite(like ron mentioned)

I am not familiar with that filter, but it doesn't look like it would hurt anything. May look a bit ugly though. Not sure where you are, but if the guy would exchange it with a Hot magnum canister, I love those and use one on my planted tank.$45 online.

Where exactly are you reading UGFs are the way to go with a planted tank?

 

[Jin]

IN my 90-galoon tanks, I use an UGF, but with reversed powerheads.  I have no CO2 running.  I have an emporer 400 biowheel as my main filter.  I have a 110w light.  Almost all of my plants are growing like crazy.

 

[Matt Nace]

Like your hornwort grow crazy?

no really,

Please tell me what your tank specs are . I am intrested to know these things. A picture would be good too!

 

[drzeus]

Thanks for the comments folks.  MRB - I didnt read UGFs are the way to go with a planted tank, just that I got the general drift that there were two camps over the issue and wanted some opinions on it.    I was thinking too a canister would look better but I dont know if he would do me a swap or not.  This is Greece here and its real hard to get shopowners to give you anything reduced or for free in this department.  But I will give it a try!  It would free up some good space in there for sure.

So next question - I am going for my first planted tank - not too heavy tho so that I can do it, just to give it a bit more natural feel for the fish, and me  *twirlysmiley*.    So what about substrate?  How deep does it need to be - bearing in mind the tank is only 40 cm high so i am not going for super tall plants? Nor over light-demanding ones.  Extra CO2 is out of the question for the present unless i go for a DIY job.  I hear you guys rave about flourite but not sure if I can get it.  Plenty of laterite around - do i need that?  Also saw some German brown small pea-sized stuff which from my VERY little German seemed to be for substrate use.
What do you reckon I should use?