So Glad I found you guys!!!!!!!!!!

I am a new 150 gallon tank owner and I am about ready to get it started. Meaning priced everything read a few articles on a lot of other sites, but with not a nearly this much of p2p. Anyway, my question is can I use a UGF with two powerheads and a powerfilter together?? Heard lots of different opinions on both. Just not ready in my wallet to buy a canister filter. PLEASE HELP! BEAUTIFUL HUGE TANK READY TO GO. THANKYOU

 

Welcome to Fishlore and congrats on such a nice sized tank. Someone with a lot more knowledge will answer you shortly I'm sure. These are some of the nicest people around and quick to help.

 

I wouldnt reccomend an UGF, heard many disasters about it.

 

Thanks, well since been on the site I've seen countless pro and con about UGFs. The main theme Iam seeing is too much hassle with cleaning and still not be able to get everything. Can I use just the two HOB and then maybe a powerhead with a pre-filter just for the most flow in such a big tank

 

WELCOME to FISHLORE Anthonyeuga2000, it is fun to get to know new folks that are interested in fish. Hope we can help you through.....

What are you going to keep in your new tank? THAT would determine whether what you have is going to be enough!

If you have 10 neons and 3 cory cats, it would be enough...

If you have oscars and a huge pleco, it wouldn't....

Are you familiar with the nitrogen cycle? If not go to the fishlore home page and read everything on setting up a new tank for beginners, and the nitrogen cycle. This will save you huge problems down the way.
Do you have an API Master test kit? You will need this.

If you can get it, add Bio-Spira to help speed the cycle, but if you do that you have to add a couple of fish, to have something for the bacteria to eat....

MY personal opinion is that you will not get enough filtration with the setup you described. IN THE VERY LEAST you should add a HOB filter as large as you can afford. Then start saving for a good canister filter.
Some folks here don't agree with using a UGF at all. I personally use them. My 125 g tank has UGF, with one powerhead, and a Eheim Professionel II 2028 Canister filter. With the load in my tank this is JUST barely enough. You don't have to spend huge bucks for filtration if you are handy and want to devise a DIY sump system. Many threads in the DIY section have ideas on what might be of use to you. One is a NITRATE filter using out of tank system that runs the tank water through plants that "eat" the nitrate, then return the water to your tank........

This is why I love Fishlore, people sharing their ideas...Good Luck and Merry Christmas

 

Yea, for a tank that big you'd need a minimum of two of the biggest HOB filters to get proper water turnover. You'd probably be better off with a big canister filter.

 

UGF - The pros: more aeration in the gravel to help establish larger bacteria colonies.
Cons: Build up of waste in gravel can over time get excessive if you don't do vacuuming as well as needed. Hard to change without tearing down the entire tank. You CAN build up nitrogen pockets under decorations, you need to vacuum and disturb the gravel every week, AND have something like MTS snails to help aerate.

In a thread last year timandkaren described how they clean their tanks with UGF. That is to attach an adapter to the tube of the UGF, to the hose of a wet/dry "shop vac". They then VACUUM out water from under the gravel, which eliminates the huge waste build up in the gravel, especially if you have three or four hands and can stir the gravel as you vacuum the water out.

I tried this. Invested $200 in a shop vac, as my husband needed one (a present for him ), and now routinely vacuum my tanks. It takes like 30 seconds to take out 16 gallons of water!
It does a good job of keeping the tanks healthy. If you start right from the beginning doing this as part of your weekly maintenance, an UGF should be a good addition to your filtration system, but you should still get something in addition right from the start like a couple of HOBs or eventually a Canister.

 

I've heard of a lot of tanks crashing because the ugf eventually got overloaded and crashed, so the tank lost all biological filtration. For a tank that size a canister would be your best bet.

 

So, do you guys think 2 aquaclear 110s will do the trick with a very small limit of fish? Want to get started, but the right way.

 

Yea, those would be fine.

 

my eheim is a great filter works very effectivly

Rock On Callum!

 

welcome to fishlore!

 

Going to go with to aqua 110s and the small recommened fish to go along with that flow. Does anyone think more fish can go in with maybe a powerhead for even more circalation. What other type of fish does anyone recomenned?

 

african cichlids!!!!