FX6 intake sand guard

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Sinister-Kisses

Sinister-Kisses

Aimara
MFK Member
Jan 19, 2022
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I need your brains. I have a 135gal that is 6ft long but it's 2 ft deep so it's not very tall as a result. I've got two filters running on it right now and one of them is an FX6. The tank has had gravel as substrate since I set it up a few years ago but I'm getting all the pieces in place for a plan to change things up, and I want to put sand in the tank instead (I'm going to move my group of O. heterospila over to this tank instead, and want to try them with sand instead of the gravel they're on right now). Problem is that because the tank is wide and short, the FX6 intake barely hovers above the gravel line that's in there right now. The gravel is a bit on the deeper side so the sand won't be as deep, but at best I'm thinking the intake will sit about 3/4-1" above the substrate level.

Obviously this is going to be an issue for sand getting blown into the intake. In the past I've always thrown a prefilter sponge over the filter intake to help alleviate this issue, but the intake basket on the FX6 is so huge, not just a small round intake basket like on every other filter. Anyone have any brilliant suggestions on how to modify it so I don't have to deal with sand getting into the filter all the time?
 
Hmm, I use an FX on sand substrate, but it's probably closer to 3" off the sand. Torpedo beach sand, fairly large grain and heavy, but no issue. I havent had my intake apart in some time, but could you modify the intake stem to be shorter? cut a few inches off the top and still attach the hose?
 
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Sinister-Kisses said:
I need your brains. I have a 135gal that is 6ft long but it's 2 ft deep so it's not very tall as a result. I've got two filters running on it right now and one of them is an FX6. The tank has had gravel as substrate since I set it up a few years ago but I'm getting all the pieces in place for a plan to change things up, and I want to put sand in the tank instead (I'm going to move my group of O. heterospila over to this tank instead, and want to try them with sand instead of the gravel they're on right now). Problem is that because the tank is wide and short, the FX6 intake barely hovers above the gravel line that's in there right now. The gravel is a bit on the deeper side so the sand won't be as deep, but at best I'm thinking the intake will sit about 3/4-1" above the substrate level.

Obviously this is going to be an issue for sand getting blown into the intake. In the past I've always thrown a prefilter sponge over the filter intake to help alleviate this issue, but the intake basket on the FX6 is so huge, not just a small round intake basket like on every other filter. Anyone have any brilliant suggestions on how to modify it so I don't have to deal with sand getting into the filter all the time?
Click to expand...
Post a pic of the intake tube.
 
...this is why I needed outside brains. I was so focused on the covering the intake basket route that actually cutting the tube length totally didn't even occur to me lol.

I'm at work so won't be able to get a picture until this evening. But I've had the tank running for about 3, maybe 4 years now and the filter came with it second hand at that point, so it's not new by any means.
 
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Hope it works, I know you can buy replacement tubes, but if I recall they're an annoying unique size, trying to make you buy actual fluval parts. Hopefully they're standard width all the way down so the hose still fits and seats well.
 
Id wager the type of sand could b just as important as the intake level. Im a big fan of carib sea torpedo beach. Its large grit and will not enter the water column when stirred/sifted. As long as ur sand choice has a large grit u wont run into issues having to clean out the fx impeller/pump.
 
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I was also going to suggest cutting the intake tube so it's a bit shorter. Do save the cut off piece in case you need it in the future as you should be able to find a piece of flexible tubing/hose to connect it back together again.
 
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It IS Caribsea sand, but it's Crystal River, not Torpedo Beach. I can get the Crystal River locally at Petsmart, but Torpedo Beach I'd have to order online. The Crystal River grain size is smaller than Torpedo Beach but definitely larger than the super fine pool filter sand I've always used, which is why I spent the extra money on the Caribsea sand rather than the super cheap PFS. Realistically I'll probably buy a couple bags of Torpedo Beach as well to mix the two to make it less uniform.

But I have had way too many issues with large bulky cichlids swooshing sand into filters and wrecking them over the years to NOT make some kind of effort to keep it out of the intake lol.
 
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I use 2 fx6 filters in 2 125g tanks, planted, on sand. A screen mesh prefilter (cleaned weekly) has worked well for me for years.
 
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