Under-gravel jets any good with catfish ?

plesner · Post by **plesner** » 11 Jan 2004, 16:11

A couple of weeks ago, someone brought up the topic of under-gravel jets in the chat room.

http://snipurl.com/3qv0

Has anyone tried something like this with for instance Loricariids ? It would make it easy to provide a current to every cave in the tank if so wanted.

Post by **Shane** » 11 Jan 2004, 16:37

Plesner,
Just looks to me like a very inefficient reverse flow undergravel filter (UGF) system. If you want a reverse flow UGF, why not just use a good store bought UGF plate? I do not see any advantage in the PVC system he is using. In fact, it is much worse as the PVC only lets him use small portions of the gravel as mechanical/biological filtration when a UGF plate would let him use about 90 percent of the tank's substrate.
Much better for loricariids is to attach the power head to PVC, run it six inches, place a 90 degree bend, run the PVC across the tank, place another 90 degree bend at the opposite end of the tank, and attach a sponge filter. Now you have a continuous flow (circular) system and the powerhead blows waste TOWARDS its own sponge intake.
-Shane

plesner · Post by **plesner** » 11 Jan 2004, 16:43

Shane, I don't think I made myself clear. The idea I saw in this was using one pump to direct a current directly into or just past a number of caves, which could be advantageous when trying to breed certain catfish species.

Post by **Shane** » 11 Jan 2004, 16:47

Plesner,
Sorry friend, but I am not sure what you mean. Could you explain your idea to me?
-Shane

plesner · Post by **plesner** » 11 Jan 2004, 17:07

Shane, the idea of using this with catfish isn't mine. Someone (can't remember who) mentioned it in the chat room a couple of weeks ago. I've had the idea somewhere in the back of my mind ever since.

Some catfish - i.e. some Loricariids like some current directed at the cave they're in - this can be one way to help triggering a spawn.
In this case there's 8 outlets (from two pumps) placed far apart. Using this setup, it would be possible to direct a current at 8 different caves - each of which can be far enough apart for species which maintain small territories.

Post by **Shane** » 11 Jan 2004, 20:27

OK, This is what I did not get. The guy in the article had the outlets buried under the gravel. I see what you are saying now but am still not sure how this would be easier (or better) than just pointing a powerhead at, or near, the spawning cave. I also think that in most set ups, the single sponge would clog all the time.
-Shane

plesner · Post by **plesner** » 11 Jan 2004, 20:44

Shane wrote:but am still not sure how this would be easier (or better) than just pointing a powerhead at, or near, the spawning cave.

The advantage would be if you need spawning caves (plural).

MackIntheBox · Post by **MackIntheBox** » 12 Jan 2004, 17:31

I can see the advantage to a system like thism you can have the current flow in any place and any direction that you can construct the PVC piping. If you have lots of caves or want different current paths this seems like a fairly good way of doing that.

its not being used for filtration, so you want to already have an established filter in the tank.