Sand bottom causing filtration issues

[eklikewhoa]

Most black sand I have used are indeed some sort of metal which I have had problems with as well.

PFS on the other hand does ok. I have some fish that move sand and it gets sucked into the intake regardless of how high I put it within reason. The FX5 is bad about the motor being on the bottom of the canister but so far it hasn't been that big of an issue, I just have to tear apart the motor every now and then to clean out the sand.

 

[ECW]

Prefilter sponge would work wonders. The one posted in the link may fit but it will be a STRETCH. I don't really like that sponge all so much because it is so tiny and the holes are tiny too. It will keep the sand out but will clog pretty quickly after a bit. Especially since it will be stretched to probably it's max, making the pores even more restrictive. If you don't keep up on squeezing out the sponge your filter will cavitate and dry out, thus having a high risk of burning the motor anyways. Maybe try finding something with larger holes that will still be able to keep out the grain size of your substrate.