snails and filter intakes

[jpappy789]

For what its worth, I've always gone with one of these.

The same one's actually bounced around from my 10 gal brig tank to my 30 gal community to now my 15 gal tank. Its currently being used on an AC 20 and I dont see much affect on flow or overall filter performance. Easy to clean and doesnt clog if cleaned regularly.

 

[thebrandon]

I've had a lot of luck using the panty hose stretched over the bottle technique. I've done everything else and have found my self cleaning the pre-filter more than the actual filter needs to be cleaned. Idk if it's because I have a lot of plants in the tank I do it on or not.

 

[Tay690]

a piece of screen would work well too...I'm having the exact same problem and I have some plastic screen that I'm going to coil around the intake and bind it with a plastic tie

hopefully that will fix the problem

 

[adimeatatime]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

This is what I use and it works well for me. It is made of plastic meshing found in the hobby section and a piece of hose.

 

[Wycco]

kyryah, where are you? show them your 'hose

No Comment!

 

[kazinvan]

I had the same problem with my aquaclear filters (but I assume it would be the same for most other types). Some snails actually had their little body torn from the shell

I tried pantyhose, screen door material (metal and plastic), sponge filter, but they all had problems. Mostly, I didn't like the look, but things like pantyhose also clogged very quickly and I was just cleaning it daily. I wanted something that would keep the snails off the intake and also looked clean. My solution is to use a heater guard. It fits almost perfectly over the intakes and reduces the suction enough that snails can easily crawl all over the thing and not get sucked in. Things in the water just pass right through though, it works perfectly.

This is the product I'm using: http://www.aquariumsupermarket.com.au/img/c/68-category.jpg

And a shot of it in my tank covering both intakes. Not the best pic, but should give you the idea. The intakes are on the left hand side.

 

[kazinvan]

Here is a shot of the guard on the filter intake.

 

[angyles]

kazivan, that's actually a GREAT idea! I like that the best yet

have you had any problems at all since you implemented this?

 

[Weather Loach]

Good luck with the snails

 

[kazinvan]

No problems at all. I wouldn't think it would work at first, because the holes in the guard are about the same size as the intakes. However, the surface area of the guard is much greater so the suction in any one spot is actually quite small. I have seen small rams horn snails on the guard with no problems.