chels1289 Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 Is it common for sand to ruin filters? My sand is play sand from bunnings and pretty fine. I just read that some people put sponges over the intakes to prevent sand going in there. Should I be doing this? My tank is four foot with geo tapajos who dig a lot. I have a fluval 305 cannister and a fluval U3 internal filter.. total 1600lph And a sponge filter... not sure on the lph there. Any advice welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
__CAV__ Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 it can be pretty common for it to happen, but that being said, i've got a filter here which is 10year old and I've only ever replaced the impellor once in its life (which was about 18months ago). Oh and the tanks its filtered have always had sand and geos in it, so i dont really think its a major issue if you clean often enough and look after your filters. if your that worried bring your filter intakes up from the bottom about 4-5inches and it should be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted July 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 Thanks Cav, good to hear, just wanted to check up on that I know a guy who didn't get sand cause he was too worried about his filter. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
__CAV__ Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 Thanks Cav, good to hear, just wanted to check up on that I know a guy who didn't get sand cause he was too worried about his filter. Cheers! No probs, the worse thing, sand is going to do to your filter is wear your impellor out quicker, and most impellors are pretty cheap (when you consider some of us are more than happy to drop $1000's on livestock), and if you clean your impellor whenever you clean your cannister you won't have any issues, at least if you clean your impellor out you can see if the impellor is wearing out and replace it before it fails Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasman Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 as Cav said just raise up your intake if your worried. I dont like the idea of adding sponge to your intake as it will clog quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted July 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 Yeah that's what I thought too, and any larger dirt particles would get in.. which seems silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_a Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 I always used to run bunnings play sand in my tanks, and cish such as Cytocara moorii were forever sifting through the sand and stirring it up, I never had a problem though. The trick is in the preparation of the sand. For every bag of sand I started with, I ended up with barely more than half a bag after I was done washing it. I emptied a bag into a wheelbarrow and then blasted water into it with a high pressure nozzle. Anything that stayed in the water column flowed straight over the sides of the wheelbarrow so you are only left with the heavier particles that sink quick smart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shon982 Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 Never had a problem with it at all, I rarely clean out my 405 and when I do, it's only got a few grains which would never reach the impeller anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
