I've run them for about 15 years in two of my fw tanks. Both tanks have dolomite gravel over the plates. One tank is 110 gal with 2 powerheads supporting about 40 juvenile african ciclids about 800 gph turnover. The other is a 33 with about 15 inches of assorted fish in it at the moment. It has a 350gph head and another airstone powered stack running it. Both systems have worked well for years for me. I don't run any other filtration, except for seeding hob's or sponges occasionally. My WC, cleanup schedule is terrible, I do about a 10-20% water change about 1 per month. This includes a gravel syphon and refill. Tanks are generally stable. I had one go bad about 8 months ago but I'd torn it down and moved it and refilled it. Not the systems fault. I haven't run one with salt but don't know why it wouldn't work. Kinda like a sandbed, adds extra area for the goodguys to grow.
Brad
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