Ten Gal needs beautification

[VincentM]

I have the old 10 gal from the goldfish, I intend to fill it back up, with maybe a VERY SMALL salt water... maybe a tiny seahorse or something... I will look into it.

ANYWAYS

If I turn it into a freshwater, what sort of fish can I keep in it?

If I turn it into a saltwater, what can I put into it?

[TheOldSalt]

Saltwater- pretty much nothing.
Freshwater- Lots of stuff. Most of the typical petshop type fish will fit into a 10gal freshwater tank. Stay away from goldfish & cichlids and most oddballs and catfishes and you'll still have several hundred species available.

[MaelStrom]

I would advise against saltwater unless youve had previous tanks or really know what you are doing.

[VincentM]

Okay. I will stay far from saltwater..

On another note, I got my UGF today and my powerhead. But I have a question as to HOW pushing bubbles down a tube is filtering the substrate?

Attaching the powerhead pulls poo out of the rocks just fine..... but then it just blows it into the water above the rocks....

[Sea-Agg2009]

I had a co-worker set up a 5 gallon Saltwater. Granted she use to work at a large aquarium store, and now works at another aquarium. I would not suggest a saltwater unless you have at least 50 gallons.

If you want something cool, you could potentially keep a freshwater tank, and have dwarf puffers. It's something somewhat different, but still a straight-forward setup. You could also try some dwarf fencing crayfish. They only get about 2" long, and interact with each other, which makes things pretty fun. I'm not sure on numbers. It mainly depends on whether your tank is long or tall. Just make sure the other fish are very docile, and don't naturally eat shrimp, since crayfish that small are basically slightly tougher shrimp.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't an UGF basically pump bubbles into the substrate, loosening the rocks, and freeing up dirt and junk? As the poo and junk trickles down through the "vibrating" rocks, it falls through the UGF, and away from the main substrate. I could be WAY wrong with this.

Basically, if you have a tall tank, I would suggest 2 or 3 dwarf puffers (1male/2females). If your tank is long, I would go with 2 or 3 dwarf fencing crayfish, and some very docile fish to go with them.
In no way can you keep the puffers and the crayfish. The puffers would quickly dismember the crayfish. Either one or the other.

[TheOldSalt]

Yes, Sea-Agg you ARE way wrong about this. LOL!

When the bubbles rise through the riser tube, they take water with them. As the water is expelled out via the tube, more water from the tank is drawn down through the gravel to replace it. this creates a constant downward suction of water through the gravel.
Before too long the gravel gets covered on a matrix of bacteria and slime, and this traps the waste that goes through the gravel. Cleaner water goes back up the tube with the bubbles, and the bacteria then digest this waste trapped in the gravel.

The smaller the bubbles in the riser tube, the more water gets pulled. This why most UGF's have airstones at the bottom of the tubes instead of just an airline blowing big bubbles. Powerheads, of course, pull massive amounts of water with no need for bubbles.

[redpaulhus]

Originally Posted by VincentM

On another note, I got my UGF today and my powerhead. But I have a question as to HOW pushing bubbles down a tube is filtering the substrate?

If you're using a powerhead, you shouldn't:
a) be pushing bubbles down the tube
b) have any bubbles in any tube at all

You should only use a powerhead on a UGF if you have a powerhead on each and every lift tube - you don't want one lift tube to be driven by an airstone (bubbles going up the tube) and one by a powerhead - the powerhead can pull water down the tube and completely bypass the gravel bed.

So if you have one lift tube (cap all the others) and one very strong powerhead (and a small tank with a small UGF) you're ok.
Or if you have multiple powerheads - one per lift tube.
Don't mix and match powerheads with airlifts - you'll get worse results than airlifts alone.

And either way - vac your gravel frequently. As TOS pointed out, its all about the bacteria, not about the gunk in the gravel. Get the gunk out !