DIY Under Gravel Filter

[@karenstott7980]

Dude...you're my cost cutting hero ...more money for fish..etc ..i ended up using a soldering iron and melted slits and holes..thanx mate ...Australia

[@fredflintstone1547]

I agree with you about creating lift through the uptube with a slightly wider diameter - allowing the air bubbles to remain smaller and more numerous which creates efficiency and room for water in an UGF lift tube. I appreciate you encouraging viewers to experiment and do what they think best for their particular build and access to resources

[@MELODYMUNRO]

Thanx for this I was just looking at a undergravel at my LFS the other day and have since been contemplating on how to do it better and cheaper....You have given me some ideas....

[@vanissaberg5824]

I made mine out of a scrap piece of 4" diameter pvc drain pipe and sawed a bunch of slits in it and split it down the middle and heated it up on the stove to open it up and flattened it out so it sits almost flat. I put a few broken chunks of marble as support spacers then covered it with a fine mesh cloth so sand don't make it underneath it. A small 1/2" lift tube connects to my filter pump and that's it! This thing will probably last a crazy long time without worrying about it breaking lol.

[@b-scichlids1570]

I bought the regular polycarbonate ridged roofing panel. Looks like I’ll be returning it for the foamed. The stuff I got is not nearly as rigid. Great idea, thanks for sharing.

[@mikeysgurl2005]

Aint nobody gonna skip 6 minutes of Kyle !!! :D shrimp BABIES 😍 ! Silicone and pvc = adult tinker-toys!! Joey would be so proud! Love it! Bahahaha "dainty scissors" 😂 . Booom crypt tank! 💥

[@strider5119]

I also enjoy a tight fit. Great video btw. I usually get bored pretty quickly with long videos, but this was interesting.

[@DebTim]

HI Kyle.. this is really great. I have seen more and more of these making a come back. Most thing travel in circles..here's another.. well done. Simple innovation.. =D

[@incubatork]

You should try the czech style of uplift tubes, no stones involved to restrict water flow and far beter water circulation for the amount of air used, you could also make a bell with fittings at the bottom to stop the stone blocking the ingress of water. With bigger diameter tubes you lose flow if you do not have super air flow. Rather than slitting the sheet plastic with the multi saw try using an angle grinder with a 1mm disc cross ways on the ridge rather than length ways, safer than a dremel its super fast and you can adjust the size of the slits to suit. Its good to see the younger generation using UG filters again, when I started it was all there was. Personally I think much better than a canister that only takes out suspended material.

[@SeansAnimalWorld]

Awesome Video! I need to get back to my fish videos..

[@diamondkelp3993]

Thanks heaps, Awesome info!!

[@tortoisetom1]

great video!I may try this on my 20 long guppy tank.

[@lisakenney7200]

Love these Ideas. I'm going to try to make own. Thanks.

[@ejfishes7610]

Very neat Kyle, thanks for sharing!

[@dbachelorsplantedaquarium4711]

Cool! Very innovative!

[@user-ohmy]

I've looked at all the homemade ugf and they never go over the pumps they use or how it works or if I could use a powerhead

[@Elma0324]

Cool!! You can just silicone the hole if you make it a little to BIG!

[@davidsfishtanks9347]

Pretty cool man I Subscribed sir great video !

[@dogheartchucky902]

cool I'm going to try to make own. Thanks

[@aquaticma]

Nice build Kyle!

[@PalJoey-rm2yh]

You really should extend those vertical output tubes to just below the surface level to increase water flow and use the right angle fittings to eject the water right at the surface water line to provide surface agitation for oxygenation. I've been working with UGFs since about 1962 when they came out. They were sold with extravagant promises of being a permanent, no maintenance systems. Today they are out of favor and here is why: there is a 'sweet spot' of 3-10 months where the bacteria bed is handling the waste output of the tank, but then with the accumulation of mulm in the gravel you get 'old tank syndrome,' when the nitrates and phosphates get too high. Fish begin dying off for unknown reasons along with other problems. So, to get the benefits of the large bacteria bed a UGF offers, the user needs to do gravel vacuuming along with water changes. But there are still problems using standard UGFs. First, many rooted plants do not do well with water circulation through their roots. Floating plants do better. Second, water flow is simply too low using air stones. Much better performance can be gained using power heads. And much better still, use the power head in reverse flow mode so that water is pushed down under the UGF and up through the substrate, thereby avoiding any mulm accumulation. Lastly, DIYers can achieve the ne plus ultra of UGF performance by placing a filter floss box first in the filter chain before the intake of the reverse flow power head, to strain out the tiny floating particles that may come up through the sand. I ran such systems on my African Cichlid tanks and always had 0 counts for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and crystal clear water.

[@KylesWildWorld]

its my understanding that roots like water flow at their roots since they absorb oxygen there as well, that and the fact that nitrifying bacteria is dependant on oxygen, and what feeds nitrifying bacteria feeds plants since without the bacteria the plant would have no nutrients to absorb due to the symbiotic relation ship. unless aquaponics and hydroponics are somehow bad for plants?? in my experience and from the books i have read ,flow is good for all plants at the roots it keeps root rot from happening , which is a result of lack of oxygen and anaerobic conditions. though most roots combat this with acids and enzymes that can free up space but if a plant that is not adapted for lets say living in a swamp it will not have the ability to deal with the excess water lack of oxygen, and bacteria and fungi that have adapted to those circumstances.

[@BassManStrikes]

I don't think any of that is true LOL and yes I know this is a old comment but it came up in my feed today LOL Anyways, you don't want super fast flow out of a undergravel filter/ plenum. The roots like the slow moving current under the plate. and you could design it so you could hook up a inline pump and just suck the gunk out after a year or so if you wanted to. if you make the space bigger you can put media under the plate as well.

[@AquariumCop]

awesome

[@upsidediy3945]

Under gravel filter s should be good with HOB,sumps or canister filters. Imagine they made a kit from . 8:00 roofing plastics . Filters have many purposes , especially less water changes .you just have to make pegs or legs and make it more durable

[@steveunderwood8289]

what air pump are you using?

[@FattyChanGaming]

Do these help more with getting clear water?

[@ericshanks212]

how would this work with sand ? very cool thanks im the same way i rather build it . will save this video too keep up the good work

[@HisValor]

I saw another video for sand as I like sand as well. They use a plastic ground cover you can buy at a HD or Lowe’s that hold the sand but still let’s water go through

[@PoppaRyno]

Excellent share!

[@exj1599]

Trying to understand how the filter goes, where does the actual dirt go?

[@rockyhayes7699]

it pulls the water through your substrate. Which holds good bacteria. Easier to use a bottle full of media. lots of easy videos on it

[@pa.fishpreacher6166]

do you have to clean that under gravel at any time?

[@pa.fishpreacher6166]

How do you "flush out" what is under neath it?

[@Sandrainia3]

@@pa.fishpreacher6166 For a flush out two ways, on next water change tie a filter sock on either of the upright tubes and use your fresh water hose and a funnel in the other, after you have siphoned out the water for your exchange, pour clean water in via funnel port and all the junk underneath will be caught in the filter sock. 2nd way is to put the siphon hose down one upright and pull out your usual dirty water out by 1/2 water change planned, transfer siphon to the other up right and pull out your other 1/2 of dirty water and refill as usual. Gravel is porous, allowing water exchange to occur between all it's depths, and doing it through the uprights means you have massively less chance for losing tiny fry or shrimp babies, and it really cuts down any Planeria or Hydra to hide in gravels and malm layers. Big improvement over old style singe tube under gravels from back in the "1960's", only way to clean those dinosaurs is to empty tank of everything in it down to bare base, soak the old filter and sand/gravel In salt at super saturation solution, rinse in a potassium permanganate solution, finally rinse several times in chlorine free water, same for the inside of tanks, and repeat all steps again in 6-12 months. Plus back then they drummed into you, no plants, no snails, weekly full filter media exchange, and dechlorinate water; after an hour put the fish right in. Out of 20 fish you will be lucky if 1-2 are still alive in 2 months. With my LFS only diff from then to today was don't buy fish for 6 months after tank is set up and running. But still today no live plants, no snails, change all filter medias weekly, and now he adds no fish for 6 months ! Why even buy the tank, why not just watch other people's fish on the computer ??? 3 hour drive round trip to my "Local" fish store, 4 hours spent in store watching multiple other people be waited on and for $1-$10 dollar items, I was planning on spending at least $300 for a tank(not a Kit) and the items that were worth paying for. If I had gone to Petco I would have been in and out in less time, less cost, with the items I wanted(not the kit of unsale-able, break in a month or less pile of trash), with plants and fish and snails in under an hour, and save an hour's worth of gas in the car. Kit HOB filter didn't last 2 weeks, and supply of "Free with Kit" fish food didn't equal 1/2 teaspoon. Lucky other people run their stores differently, and that I had seen many of Aquarium Co-Op's videos on YT, so I was able to order many good and dependable items from Cory, including a master test kit and 2 sponge filters, Repashy, ect… and it all arrived soon enough to save 1/3rd of my 6 guppies, all 6 Black tetras, 3 Cory, and a Pleco.

[@dwainkitchel1316]

pex might make a good pipe version

[@melissabyers6634]

Are you ok Kyle? Miss your videos. My dwarf neon rainbows I got from you are all doing well.

[@mightypowers9455]

it should work better if you cut the slits 90 degree to the ridge instead of parallel.

[@delethabarnett9187]

Hi Kyle wow. I sub u sub to Fish keeping Jamaica. Great Job!!!

[@giobelkoicenter]

Hi Kyle, I saw your channel from Michaels video, can we collaborate? I am into fish keeping too.

[@giobelkoicenter]

I think I can shout out your channel in my video and you do the same

[@seanearly54321]

lol clever as fuck

[@seanearly54321]

Im going to actually use this one day when I need it

[@fredflintstone1547]

dremels are overrated unless you're a fluke-pro, they always bite and jump off the material which screws up the cut... If dremel wheels and attachments were 350% bigger they would be a much better tool. Dremels are more of a jeweler's tool than a construction implement - it ain't not HILTI that's for sure

[@jamesburton7298]

This is just dumb. It only costs 10 or 15 bucks for a store bought under gravel filter. The solid white pvc is really ugly.

[@BassManStrikes]

Not for bigger ones, they can be over 100 dollars LOL

[@SuperNinjaTurtle7272]

ayyyeeee what's up kyle lol

[@RobertJohnson-or5jm]

You seem to like the sound of your own voice.

[@cherylmockotr]

You're a jerk.

[@jaybrielakoi7747]

I love your build but darn...I don't think it's worth the time and effort. It's basically smarter to just buy it I think.

[@SoRadAwesomeStCool]

Why are you yelling? Also, this video did NOT need to be 30 minutes.