I know that. I was just asking if it seemed like a good idea or if the OP would rather keep it here.
Is brackish water killing my filters?
- Thread starter Industrial
- Start date
When I switch to sand I had the same problem. I went the cheap rout and used sand from a river bank. 
After sterilizing the sand in the oven at 650f for a few hours then dumped the "sand" into the empty fish tank. I know there would be smaller particulate matter and even some mud mixed in but figured the filter would clean that up. 
Of course the impeller didn't feel the same way... I looked at my poor fish sitting in their tiny 5gal temp tank and cursed. I cleaned out the inpeller several times but every time I turned it on the sand would get turned up and a tiny piece of sand would cause the impeller to stick again.
Then it hit me! Why not filter the water before it got to the impeller. I removed the tube that goes into the water. Took one of my sons socks (he's 4) and placed the end of the tube with the strainer inside the sock and reinstered the tube into the filter housing. This of couse did not work for long. Far too little surface area... the pump could not pull the water through for very long. So I threw a handful of marbles in the sock.
The pump was still able to pull water through the sock at about the same rate (no filter installed).
I stirred up the sand with the net allowing the lighter material drift in the water and get pulled through the sock/marbles but not into the impeller. Still no charcoal filter installed: why waste another filter when I'm just straining dirt? When I noticed the water flow slowing I took a tall glass and put it in the tank encompassing the sock so when I pulled the tube/sock out of the tank the material (sand/mud) didn't just fall back into the tank. After repeating a couple of times the remaining sand in the tank was heavy enough it wouldn't get sucked into the strainer and into the pump. Or rather so when I stirred up the sand what was left would immediatly fall back to the floor of the tank.
I still had the problem of the water entering the tank from the pump pushing the sand around so there was a "bald spot". Putting a few rocks and plants there to break up the current solved that.
I also found it usful during cleaning to do the sock full of marbles thing to help catch the crap that gets stirred up instead of using up filters.
Hope this helps.
After sterilizing the sand in the oven at 650f for a few hours then dumped the "sand" into the empty fish tank. I know there would be smaller particulate matter and even some mud mixed in but figured the filter would clean that up. Of course the impeller didn't feel the same way... I looked at my poor fish sitting in their tiny 5gal temp tank and cursed. I cleaned out the inpeller several times but every time I turned it on the sand would get turned up and a tiny piece of sand would cause the impeller to stick again.Then it hit me! Why not filter the water before it got to the impeller. I removed the tube that goes into the water. Took one of my sons socks (he's 4) and placed the end of the tube with the strainer inside the sock and reinstered the tube into the filter housing. This of couse did not work for long. Far too little surface area... the pump could not pull the water through for very long. So I threw a handful of marbles in the sock.
The pump was still able to pull water through the sock at about the same rate (no filter installed).I stirred up the sand with the net allowing the lighter material drift in the water and get pulled through the sock/marbles but not into the impeller. Still no charcoal filter installed: why waste another filter when I'm just straining dirt? When I noticed the water flow slowing I took a tall glass and put it in the tank encompassing the sock so when I pulled the tube/sock out of the tank the material (sand/mud) didn't just fall back into the tank. After repeating a couple of times the remaining sand in the tank was heavy enough it wouldn't get sucked into the strainer and into the pump. Or rather so when I stirred up the sand what was left would immediatly fall back to the floor of the tank.
I still had the problem of the water entering the tank from the pump pushing the sand around so there was a "bald spot". Putting a few rocks and plants there to break up the current solved that.
I also found it usful during cleaning to do the sock full of marbles thing to help catch the crap that gets stirred up instead of using up filters.
Hope this helps.
