# Filtration with very fine white sand



## mbrearley (Feb 27, 2006)

Long story made short, we have a 75 gallon tank with Tahitian Moon Sand and have had no problems with it at all.  We decided to change over our 10 gallon tank to sand using the white sand by the same manufacturer. Well, this stuff is super super fine and it ruined a brand new Penguin Bio-Wheel filter.  Not so much the entire filter, but the impeller is making lots of noise as the sand is etching away at the metal post that the magnet slips over.

I've tried adding some filter floss and even cheese cloth over the intake, but it clogs up within a few days with sand and enough is able to get by into the filter that it really doesn't help. 

Are there better filters out there that can dump the sand before it gets to any vital moving parts? Or should I dump this stuff and go with a larger grain sand? 

Thanks,
Mike


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## FishHead (Nov 16, 2006)

you can switch to a magnum mini canister filter. my GF had the same problem with her 55 and her whisper and top fin filters. they will suck up the sand immediately.


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## Apotheosis (Jul 2, 2007)

Is the filter intake really close to the bottom or something? 

I can't really see that happening. Maybe get a filter with less power - lower turnover rate.


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## mbrearley (Feb 27, 2006)

Apotheosis said:


> Is the filter intake really close to the bottom or something?
> 
> I can't really see that happening. Maybe get a filter with less power - lower turnover rate.


It's not that close to the bottom (about mid way). I can cut the tube and moving it up higher though. I don't want to go to a low powered filter as I have mollies in the tank and they prefer decent water flow/current in the tank. The problem is, when any sand is kicked up, it gets caught in the current and ends up in the filter. I'll try moving it up as high as I can and see if that works.

Thanks...


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## FishHead (Nov 16, 2006)

^ That is the same thing I tried for her and it DID NOT work at all. I removed the extra tubing lines for the filter and it still sucked up sand and sporatically shut off the filter. a magnum filter is i think 69.99 so it may be a better route for sand substrate.


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## mbrearley (Feb 27, 2006)

I have a magnum 350, but it's rather large for a 10 gallon. Is there a smaller one that filters before the impeller?


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## Apotheosis (Jul 2, 2007)

FishHead said:


> ^ That is the same thing I tried for her and it DID NOT work at all. I removed the extra tubing lines for the filter and it still sucked up sand and sporatically shut off the filter. a magnum filter is i think 69.99 so it may be a better route for sand substrate.


Um, can you explain why? Canister filters and HOB filters still take in water the same way. 

http://www.marineland.com/products/consumer/con_magnum.asp

The model with the lowest water turnover produces 220 gph. That would be a ton of turnover for a 10 gallon (22x per hour to be exact). 

http://www.marineland.com/products/consumer/con_penguinfiltersnew.asp

The lowest penguin biowheel model pushes out 100 gph, which is significantly less than the lowest magnum canister filter model and more fitting for a 10 gal.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand why a more powerful canister filter would not take in sand like a less powerful HOB filter.


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## FishHead (Nov 16, 2006)

Apotheosis said:


> Um, can you explain why? Canister filters and HOB filters still take in water the same way.
> 
> http://www.marineland.com/products/consumer/con_magnum.asp
> 
> ...


i honestly can't answer that. We tried a whisper 60 filter and a topfin 60 filter and both shut off throughout the day. After we unplugged them we did notice sand in the bottom of the filter. so it was sucking up sand into the filter causing it to shutoff. 

Her magnum, i believe its a 350?, has been fine on her 55. it has not shut off at all. I cant explain why its happening, only able to tell you my experience with these 3 filters and sand.

also, i have sand in my 20L and my topfin filter hasnt shut off at all. my sand is also larger grained though compred to my GFs.


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## SBDTHUR (Jun 15, 2007)

I would of just gone with Estes Sand. This stuff is a beast! Extremly fine sand. All I had to do was dump the sand in after turning the filter off and taking the fish and decor out. The stuff settled within and hour and my filter has been running fine ever since. There was cloudyness after setting it up but that all went away after about 12 hours.


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