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Maybe that should have said "water filters" on account of the aquarium is not getting filtered unless there's a disaster. In a previous post, I talked about early box filters. Well, other than not keeping the water too clean, they sucked up baby fish. That's why I'm still a little spooked about the newer, more powerful and sophisticated filters. I know you can put something over the intake, but it seems like that would just plaster the little guys up against it.
The under gravel filter is still my favorite, and I hook it up to a relatively small air pump. Some people abbreviate the thing with UGF, but I prefer to write things out. Thus, it's an uggiff.
Linguistics aside, uggiffs always give me nice clear water, and they turn plant debris and fish wastes into good cooties. However, they don't work for squat if you put too many fish in one tank or neglect aquarium maintenance chores. Since uggiffs are pretty low tech, you need to keep up with the regular partial water changes. I use the Python system to pull waste materials out of the gravel column while also removing old water. According to Mr. Python, you stick the intake into the gravel and leave it there until you get clear water. My front yard loves the neutrients it gets from the aquarium waste.
This is just an opinion, but I think an aquarium can be too clean. After all, lakes and rivers have mud on the bottom. Uggiffs fit the bill, and they're cheap. Whaddaya think?
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