Best filter for sand tank?

Twelve

Twelve

Ty, the blacklight betta
Sep 30, 2004
53
0
0
California
Hi everyone!

After 3 years of abuse, my filter on my freshwater tank finally quit today. It wasn't designed for sand, and the pre-filter I put on it only caught so much. The sand got in and did a number on the moving parts. It did the best it could. May it rest in peace! :)

Now that I am looking to replace it, I'd like to get one meant for a tank with sand. I was hoping to get some suggestions here. Which filter should I buy?
 
Oops, sorry about that.

It's a smaller tank, about 10 gallons. I have two African Clawed Frogs in it. They don't move around much, except to eat. They are pretty large (these aren't the mini-sized frogs), so getting sucked up into the filter really isn't an issue.

They don't like a lot of water movement, so I usually keep the tank very full so the water flowing out of the filter doesn't bother them too much.
 
Any filter would work. This is what I have done with my tanks that have sand in them. Just get a HOB filter, since you have a 10 gallon this would be the cheapest one that would get the job done. On the water intake put some fine sponge or filter sponge like material on it. You can get it in rolls at any fabric store. Tie this on the intake and it will keep the sand out of your filter. After your tank has been set up for awhile you can take the sponge off the intake. You still will get some sand in there, but not enough to do to much damage
 
a Penguin Bio-Wheel 100 would work. all you have to do is not attach the bottom intake exntension tube so it stops halfway in the tank, not low enough to disturb the sand. then attach a piece of sponge in or around the bottom of the intake so that if sand does get stirred up, it won't get sucked in. the filter also has two entry points for water, usually i leave the middle one open halfway. you may want to leave it open all the way so the suction on the bottom is not as great. i don't know if you understand or not, so just look up the Penguin Bio-wheel 100 and there should be pictures of it.
 
Actually, this is the method I was using before and I found that it doesn't work very well for my tank. The prefilter sponge gets clogged up quite easily, not only with sand, but with debris from plants and frogs, causing extra stress on the motor. It has to pump extra hard to pull the water through the sponge. For a tank with a few fish, this would be fine, but with frogs that kick up sand quite frequently, this isn't a good solution.

I am looking for an alternative to this -- something that can remove the sand before it gets to the inner parts of the filter or something that won't be destroyed from sand getting in it. In other words, I want to know if anyone has used a type of filter that doesn't have the long intake that sends debris straight into the spinning filter parts.
 
what power filter brand did you have? to my knowledge, Penguin is just about the only brand that has the middle intake valve with the adjustable intake rate. you can either sponge pad the bottom intake and leave the middle valve completely open so it does not hinder intake. it's not low enough to suck in sand and the bottom will not be as powerful if the middle intake was completely closed.
 
I was using a Hagen AquaClear 50 Aquarium Power Filter. I threw it out last night. It was completely clogged with sand and the motor could no longer turn. I'm going to keep looking around. There must be something else I can do.

I can't use a filter without means to cycle the water -- African Clawed frogs are very messy. Without moving filtration, the water needs to be changed every other day. Thanks, though. I used one much like that (the one with no moving parts) when the frogs were babies.
 
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