10 Gallon with RUGF and HOB

[Osprey223]

Hello there!

This is my first build thread on here but this will be my 6th tank so far. I have been keeping reef tanks for about three years now. The three chromis and two clowns I had in QT recently graduated to the display and now I have an empty 10 gallon with no plans on adding any new swimmer to any of my DTs. I was getting ready to break it down when I was inspired by another member here to try out an RUGF (reverse flow under gravel filter). I am a tinkerer and having done all my tanks the typical modern set up styles I wanted to try something a bit different. I am excited to try something new to me and look forward to sharing the process with you all here.

I know people have strong opinions one way or another about UGFs in general. However this is not going to be the place to rehash old arguments about a UGF system, regardless of how it's run.

The tank is currently just a bare bottom, standard 10 gallon with a Marineland Penguin 175 HOB with the standard filters and bio-wheel and heater.

I will be installing the RUGF this weekend and hope to share photos of that process. I have some live sand and live rock due to arrive from TBS @LiverockRocks this coming Tuesday that I am extremely excited for that will end up in this system.

I plan to have the UGF plate in, then add a layer of large particle aragonite, then plastic canvas (some call it knitting mesh) which will overhang the UGF plate and wrap up to prevent smaller substrate from blocking water flow, and finally adding the live gulf sand and rock on top.

Can't wait to give this tank a go!

 

[danenelsen]

Cool! I can’t wait to see how this goes! Once you get it up and running, what livestock are you planning?

 

[Osprey223]

Cool! I can’t wait to see how this goes! Once you get it up and running, what livestock are you planning?

Thanks! I'm excited to see what happens. As far as stocking goes, I currently have no idea! I have been ultra focused on getting the set up the way I want I envision first. I'm hoping to have some interesting hitchhikers in the rock and in the sand I have coming in and will focus on them initially.

Would certainly appreciate any suggestions anyone has as far as stocking goes. In my other 10 gallon that's been going a year and a half I have a yellow watchman/tiger pistol shrimp pair as well as some CUC.

 

[Osprey223]

Here are my (VERY crude) blueprints of how the RUGF will be set up.

So again from bottom up it will be UGF plenum, larger size plastic canvas, large aragonite gravel, a finer plastic canvas, and then live sand on top. I doubt I am going to be able to add halved PVC to the top of the plenum for stability just due to time constraints.

The idea is for RUGF to act almost as a bog filter (large particle to small particle), but it won't actually be filtering debris as the powerhead I'm using has a sponge to filter out debris before the water is sent to the dark fathoms of the UGF. As much as possible I want to avoid waste accumulating within the plenum which will be unserviceable.

The overall goal is to ensure that the water in the sand bed is well oxygenated. I hope that this will in turn boost populations of organisms inhabiting the sand bed (bacteria, worms, amphipods, and copepods) then leading to increased waste consumption.

 

[kevgib67]

Many very successful tanks ran with this system back in the day. I’ll be sticking around to see how it goes. You can never go wrong with a tailspot blenny, just look at those eyelashes!

 

[Osprey223]

Gorgeous! I'll have to add that to my list of considerations. I have a bicolor blenny in my 40B and they are so fun!

 

[kevgib67]

Gorgeous! I'll have to add that to my list of considerations. I have a bicolor blenny in my 40B and they are so fun!

Such big personalities in such a small package!

 

[lil sumpin]

love to see these old school types of builds, thanks for sharing! cant wait to see what's in store

 

[Osprey223]

love to see these old school types of builds, thanks for sharing! cant wait to see what's in store

Thanks! This year I have been interested in learning more about the development of the hobby and how methods have cropped up, evolved, and died. I've gotten a handful of marine aquarium books from the '70s through the 90's recently and have been pouring over those. My oh my how equipment has changed!

 

[Osprey223]

Well I successfully got the tank fully up and running! Monday I spent a few hours after a small set back getting the PVC situated into the UGF plenum.

After I got that secured I added a layer of the plastic canvas. The two sheets were sewn together with fishing line so as to keep them from separating.

I then got that set up maneuvered and placed in the tank. Following this I added about a half an inch of aragonite gravel followed by a finer canvas mesh and got the pump put in place. The pump is a Sicce micra which I’ve adjusted to put out about 80 gallons an hour.

 

[Osprey223]

Well I got the tank fully going this week! My order from @LiverockRocks came in on Tuesday. I was over the moon impressed with packaging for their treasure chests. Absolutely no leakage whatsoever and it arrived so quickly. I didn’t snap any pics of the unboxing but have photos of it all in the tank. I ordered 15lbs of live sand and 2 pounds of the nano base rock.

The TBS rock is in the foreground, large rock in the back had been in my large system for half a year.

So far I have found many hitchhikers and it has been so fun observing everything. Amazing the amount of life on this second tier rock. Certainly going to order some of the premium stuff soon!

So far I have found a tiny hermit, a porcelain crab, another crab I need to ID, some snails, a small shrimp I need to ID. To my surprise I have a teeny tiny mantis shrimp as well! I haven’t seen them out of their rock crevice, but spot those compound eyes staring at me from time to time.

Enjoy the photos! Can’t wait to see how this develops. I’m considering setting this up as a Florida biotope and essentially leaving whatever hitchhikers crop up from these rocks.

Anyone have any suggestions of species I should be looking to add?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Nice looking rock!

 

[LiverockRocks]

Well I got the tank fully going this week! My order from @LiverockRocks came in on Tuesday. I was over the moon impressed with packaging for their treasure chests. Absolutely no leakage whatsoever and it arrived so quickly. I didn’t snap any pics of the unboxing but have photos of it all in the tank. I ordered 15lbs of live sand and 2 pounds of the nano base rock.

The TBS rock is in the foreground, large rock in the back had been in my large system for half a year.

So far I have found many hitchhikers and it has been so fun observing everything. Amazing the amount of life on this second tier rock. Certainly going to order some of the premium stuff soon!

So far I have found a tiny hermit, a porcelain crab, another crab I need to ID, some snails, a small shrimp I need to ID. To my surprise I have a teeny tiny mantis shrimp as well! I haven’t seen them out of their rock crevice, but spot those compound eyes staring at me from time to time.

Enjoy the photos! Can’t wait to see how this develops. I’m considering setting this up as a Florida biotope and essentially leaving whatever hitchhikers crop up from these rocks.

Anyone have any suggestions of species I should be looking to add?

Beautiful sand.
Love the mantis eyes peeking out, lol!
Porcelain crab appears to have lost a claw, hopefully it will grow back.
Claws are indicators of what the unidentified crab eats; in general, pointy means predator and blunt means algae scraper.

 

[Osprey223]

Beautiful sand.
Love the mantis eyes peeking out, lol!
Porcelain crab appears to have lost a claw, hopefully it will grow back.
Claws are indicators of what the unidentified crab eats; in general, pointy means predator and blunt means algae scraper.

Thanks for that!