Just A Quick Heads Up About Sand And Filters.

[Liam50]

after cleaning my filter out yesterday then pump sounded extremely loud i wasn't sure if their was air trapped or a malfunction with the pump. i decided to take the pump apart this morning to find out and there was actually half a tanks worth of sand sitting at the bottom and had been sucked into the impeller. so just a warning for those with sand or gravel i guess, if your pump does sound angry just make sure their is no sand in the impeller. i apologize for those who said "Well we know that already" i just thought any new members might find this helpful.

 

[OldMan47]

Thanks for giving the advice for those who didn't already know Liam. I run mostly canisters where it is not a problem but sand can definitely cause damage on a hang on back filter's impeller. Sometimes things like this that are for different setups escape my attention.

 

[raptorrex]

after cleaning my filter out yesterday then pump sounded extremely loud i wasn't sure if their was air trapped or a malfunction with the pump. i decided to take the pump apart this morning to find out and there was actually half a tanks worth of sand sitting at the bottom and had been sucked into the impeller. so just a warning for those with sand or gravel i guess, if your pump does sound angry just make sure their is no sand in the impeller. i apologize for those who said "Well we know that already" i just thought any new members might find this helpful.

one thing that help here. if you can have a small void at the bottom of the cannister. i, recently, had just such a problem. my hydor prime 30, died. yet my eheim did not. looking into why. i noticed the Ehein had an empty void, just below the first mechanical filter container. i have since added such a void to the Hydor. because its clear (the cannister body) i can see its, already, collecting sand.

still best thing to do is be careful on water changes. but, teaching my Pleco and Green terror, not to chuck sand everywhere, is not going as well. lol

 

[Big_eyes]

With my aqua aquarium I found that leaving the level of the sand lower around the filter intake cured it. Plus leaving the filter off until the sand had settled after water changes.

 

[Liam50]

i think it could be down to one fish. clown loach he has a little cave that i think a pleco dug under a rock right next to the intake and the clown loach alway beats his tail which is just poking out which in turn ruffles the sand and i see it get sucked into the filter.

 

[bitteraspects]

This can be easily remedied by using a foam prefilter or simply raising the intake. Further from your substrate. Sand and impellers are not friends.

 

[raptorrex]

This can be easily remedied by using a foam prefilter or simply raising the intake. Further from your substrate. Sand and impellers are not friends.

yeah, i tried the "pre filter". it blocked so quick, so as to make it a waste of time (only in my tank). there is 3 inches difference, between the intakes, on my two filters. oddly, its the one higher up, that suffers the most. but in my case, its not the filter sucking up substrate directly, but the fish chucking the stuff around.

 

[bitteraspects]

This can be easily remedied by using a foam prefilter or simply raising the intake. Further from your substrate. Sand and impellers are not friends.

yeah, i tried the "pre filter". it blocked so quick, so as to make it a waste of time (only in my tank). there is 3 inches difference, between the intakes, on my two filters. oddly, its the one higher up, that suffers the most. but in my case, its not the filter sucking up substrate directly, but the fish chucking the stuff around.

Obviously with a pre-filter you will need to regularly maintain it. Its supposed to get clogged with sand. That's kind of the idea. If it was between cleaning the prefilter weekly (or even every few days) or getting sand in the filter and breaking my equipment, I think its a pretty easy choice.
If yours clogged quick it may be too close to your substrate or too close to the return.
Once you get a system in place its not much work at all, and will help your equipment last.

 

[raptorrex]

This can be easily remedied by using a foam prefilter or simply raising the intake. Further from your substrate. Sand and impellers are not friends.

yeah, i tried the "pre filter". it blocked so quick, so as to make it a waste of time (only in my tank). there is 3 inches difference, between the intakes, on my two filters. oddly, its the one higher up, that suffers the most. but in my case, its not the filter sucking up substrate directly, but the fish chucking the stuff around.

Obviously with a pre-filter you will need to regularly maintain it. Its supposed to get clogged with sand. That's kind of the idea. If it was between cleaning the prefilter weekly (or even every few days) or getting sand in the filter and breaking my equipment, I think its a pretty easy choice.
If yours clogged quick it may be too close to your substrate or too close to the return.
Once you get a system in place its not much work at all, and will help your equipment last.

my "pre filter" clogged, but not the filters, now. so, whilst i agree with your comments, the pre filter in unnecessary (in my case). as for the cause, whilst you can speculate, i see what's happening.
we have spoken, before, on the subject of unnecessarily, frequent, cleaning of externals. adding yet another strip down is, simply, not an option. that subject, however, i will not address, here, again.

as for more, practical solutions. raising the inlet, seems, the way to go. just how far you, should or can, move the inlet, (some filters have "per determined" intake lengths), will be an interesting read. (if anybody knows). as my "void" idea is used in, nearly, all liqiud circulation systems, where foreign bodies have chance to enter. and appears to work in the Eheim. its seems worth looking into, at least.