Power head filter?

[Opesus]

WEll I'm hooking up a roommate's super old 35-gallon tank.

It comes with one of these: http://www.aquatichouse.com/FILTRATION MENU_files/AquaClearPH.asp and an undergravel filter bottom. But I have no clue how to hook it up or anything.

I would like to just get a Penguin filter (I'm thinking a 350), but if cost limits that, I'll need to try to hook this up....

 

[hyunelan2]

Undergravel filters are kinda unfavored these days. They never really take the waste out of the tank, but collect it and store it under the gravel. You'd be better off buying a hang-on-back filter, even if it's not as nice as the Penguin 350.

As for how to hookup that powerhead to a UGF, I'm not sure - someone else will have to answer that.

 

[Seleya]

You can hook the powerhead up to either draw the water up the ugf tube or, even better imo, to push the water down the tubes. Better yet, toss the ugf (they're more work than they're worth and you can't do plants in the future if you choose) and throw a 'quick filter' on the powerhead (essentially a sponge filter) and get a HOB if the Penguin isn't in your near future. The powerhead will circulate the water more to help your HOB filter more efficiently and the quick filter helps polish the water.

 

[Iggy]

Hi Opesus.

I uses power-head filters on a few of my tanks with Quickfilter attachments.
(They look like: http://www.aquabuy24.de/images/Quickfilter.jpg)

Now, you need at least 2 forms of filtration for your tank.
1. Mechanical - A quickfilter has a larger floss area so it does a really good job at removing debris. You can buy 'bulk' floss in rolls and just cut it to fit and wrap it around to keep the costs down.
2. Biological - Quickfilters are not good at biological. Some will allow you to add some bio-media like gravel or ceramic disks to the core inside the quickfilter, but its not the best setup. You could use the undergravel filter, but it does not do any mechanical filtration, only biological.

Here is what I suggest.
1. Add a quickfilter to your powerhead since you already have one. Fill the inside core with gravel for a bio-surface. When you change the floss (as it gets dirty), rinse the core gravel out with old tank water, and don't let it dry-out so the bacteria don't die-off.

2. Invest in a very inexpensive Penguin 2ndary filter with bio-wheel. It will give you a backup for both mechanical and biological filtration. Something in the $20 range should do.

3. Leave the UFG off.

Good luck!

 

[Opesus]

The penguin 200 was on sale at the store, so we went ahead and got one of those...