Can I still use the undergravel filter?

The power filter will be doing 90% of the work, but the undergravel will still be doing something usefull and making some pretty bubbles.

So it harms nothing by having the the UG filter in place.

They are old school filters, and new power filters work much better, but using one as a backup in the tank wont harm anything.

Ian

Using a filter meant for a 2 gallon tank in a 5 gallon tank is not really the best idea, but it can be done. Whether or not you should use an undergravel filter really depends on what you keep in the tank with regards to fish, substrate, and plants and your maintenance schedule. An undergravel filter should not be used with live plants or small sized substrates, such as sand.

Otherwise, if you keep the undergravel filter clean, you should be fine using it, however they often collect detritus, which decays and leads to buildup of nitrogen compounds, such as nitrite and nitrate. Given the efficiency at which bio-wheel filters mechanically, chemically, and biologically remove pollutants, I would get another filter. One of these filters for a 5 gallon tank would not cost a whole lot, so it is a good investment.

That is true that the two gallon under gravel filter isn't going to do much in a 5 gallon tank. I personally would go with a larger filter. How much water in the Elite 5 moving an hour? I have always gone with 5-6 times an hour. But that is just me. Without the whole bottom covered you will have to clean the gravel more with a vacuum, that is a personal choice as well. It never bothered me to clean my gravel more, better to be on the safe side then have the water quality to get all out of whack and take to ever to fix it.

it would be pretty pointless to put it in there, it wont do anything. its ok to cover only half if you really want to, but it would really look nice to just get a bigger filter, you can probably still use that power head. and if you going to cover half, just finish it to make it look nicer.

I would remove the UGF altogether and rely more on your mechanical filtration. They are considered quite a dated and poor form of filtration.

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it's not going to do much, but i would help slightly... if you keep it clean.. otherwise it will just become a nitrate trap..