I heard sand could screw up your filter if it gets in . I have fluvals if I get sand is this inevitable?
how to clean sand?
- Thread starter jagsandpits
- Start date
Hello; I am not familiar with fluvials, but yes sand has damaged the internal parts of my power filters. This was one of the reasons I stopped using finer sand. The finer sand will be stirred up by larger fish and by your tank maintenance activities.
The look of sand can be had with the sifting method I mentioned in a prior post by getting rid of small sand grains. I have found material up to near small pea size in construction sand, so by using various sized screens I can have pretty much any size sand particles desired. This way some of the negative issues of sand can be reduced, such as filter damage and the buildup of toxins in sand over two inches deep. Construction sand is somewhat cheap. I purchased some three years ago for $20 a ton.
It can tear up impellers. I keep my intakes at least 8" from the bottom of the tank to keep the majority of sand from getting in the filters when fish dig or kick up sand. You can also put a small sponge/pre-filter on the intake if you really want to keep all sand from getting in the filters.
It also really helps to use a denser/larger sand. Lots of us use pool filter sand. It's grain size is pretty big and it settles back down/sinks really quick and doesn't cloud up. Not very much of this type of sand gets in filters since it pretty much immediately sinks back down to the bottom.
Overall, impellers are pretty cheap. If one gets noisy/torn up in the span of a few years, just replace it and your problem is solved. It's definitely worth the $10 to not have to gravel vac or have a bare bottom tank.
They are great for aquariums (as long as you keep it separate from the one you use for actual turkey
)! I use mine for target feeding slower, more shy fish as well as sucking up poo. My polypterus likes to wait until I've cleaned the tank to leave a nice big ol' red turd floating in my plants.
They are great for aquariums (as long as you keep it separate from the one you use for actual turkey
little bastards! lmao I did a wc yesterday wen I was done taking water out I primed and started putting water back in and wat do ya know all my fish decided to start pooping everywere lol
That's why you have powerheads targeted to stir up detritus. I never have to "spot clean" or even vacuum my sand, and there is 0 detritus in my tank. It all gets ingested by my filters.
100% clean tank.....No maintenence besides servicing filters once every other month.
You guys are doing too much work
100% clean tank.....No maintenence besides servicing filters once every other month.
You guys are doing too much work
Fixed.
I can barely reach the bottom of my tank at the front, let alone 4' away at the back. Siphoning with a 3' length of PVC pipe is awkward at best so spot-cleaning is out of the question. If you have a planted tank the turkey baster idea is a good one, but with a large cichlid tank (OP has a dovii, so I'm presuming he has a big tank too) setting up the filters and power-heads to keep the debris circulating is the way to go.
As for the sand getting in your filters, yes it can easily damage them, especially with finer sands and/or if you have big fish that like to dig. Make sure your intakes are as high as possible above the substrate.
never using gravel again. sand is 10 times better. no food getting under it like with gravel and rotting. i have a fluval with the intake pipe only about 3 to 4 inches above the sand. have yet to find any sand in the filter
Check UaruJoeys site (the king of diy) - he has really nice and cheap solution how to vacuum dirt without need of changing water at the same time all you need is air pump, plastic bottle and meshbag
Sent from my GT-I9100 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
all you need is air pump, plastic bottle and meshbag Sent from my GT-I9100 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
