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Is an Undergravel Filter okay if I want live plants in my aquarium2007-11-24 23:37:13Answers:

You'd be better of with a Canister filter if what you are wanting is live plants in your tank. A UFG sucks the water and gunk down into it's intakes (just as the name suggests). There are Reverse UFG or RUFG's out there, but for live plants - go with a canister filter, and an DIY CO2 setup.

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Yes. The filter will draw the poop/fertilizer to the roots. The plants will be just fine.

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I think most of the high tech plant folk would say no. however, I have had some plants root and grow in an UGF. The problem is that you need to vacuum the gravel regularly to keep the UGF working properly. and plant roots make that difficult to do.

Consider potting up some plants:

http://thegab.org/articles/pottedplants..

that way you can move them around to vacuum under them.

Or stick with plants that don't need to root, e.g. anubias, java fern, java moss, hornwort, etc.

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i have the ugf set up with live plants and i have found that it works ok. remove the plants when i clean it. i'm sure it's not the best , but it works. another thing i do is i took out one of the tubs and put the plans roots under the ugf. and the thing took off.

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yes sure

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depends on the maintenace you want. If you keep up with the maintenance of the UGF and keep roots out of the workings it will be fine (high maintenance) but if you want something easier I would go with something else, up to you.