Undergravel filters

I have been raising tropical fishes for over 55 years (yes that is fifty five) and do not advise the use of undergravel filters. One thing is that even with vacing the gravel the food and other waste product gets under the uner gravel plate and will plooute the tank unless you get the mess from under the plate. Another thig is that live aquatic plants do not grow well with uedergravel plates. Wigh the new power filters you do not need to worry about those things and along with weekly partial water changes (with good water) most fish will thrive and not become sick. Yes you do need to feed them but not over feed. and you need to make sure to not ovcver crowd and keep the temp to their liking. and also make sure to have compatable fish (dont put guppies in with oscars).

I also do not agree on spending too much on an undergravel filter. Just buy a decent side or overhead filter. These will surely save you from cleaning frequently and infections of the fish from bacteria. About the cleaning, using an undergravel filter cant clean up all the residue of the fish.

Sure, why not. I have used them without any problems. If you are using a sponge type of filter you will no longer have that eye sore in your tank. If you are using the hang on type then you get to save a lot on your maintenance fees. With the UGF under gravel filter all you have to do is gravel vac every now and then. It is better to do it in sections rather than all at once because you will be removing a lot of nitrofying bacteria. Then you deal with the ammonia spike and all the rest to come with it.