pre filter for sand tanks

[clockwork]

just wondering what everyone uses as prefilter for their HOBs and canisters in their sand tanks?

i use this crappy yellow sponge stuff and i hate the look of it after even a couple of days.... :shock:

i was wondering if anyone has fixed a sponge filter to the intake of a canister? if so, what brand sponge and canister did you use?

any other thoughts appreciated.

[jvision]

I picked up a big black sponge at BAs that I put on the intake. It stays black - even after it's filled w. gunk!

[earlyriser]

I can't remember the brand but there is a sponge filter that consists of an "L" shaped tube. A round ribbed sponge is then put on the bottom of the L. They're black, so they don't stand out. They're round, and they already have an opening to accept the intake on your filter.

[Vallisneria]

I use a piece of black sponge. I bought the sponge at AquaGiant and it came in a 12x12 square

[Finbert]

That's something I've never quite understood about the design of HOB filters (I'm thinking of my Aquaclear here, not familiar with others) - the first thing the water comes in contact with, before any filtration, is the impeller, and the impeller is the part most likely to be damaged/disrupted by getting gunk/crap stuck in it. Would all the filter media be too much of a block on water flow for the impeller to be at the outlet end of the filter instead of the inlet?

[Sam Chicklets]

Yes once the media starts to fill up it would restrict the flow too much and the filter would quit.

[NatureNut]

I've been lucky... I don't prefilter my AC even with sand. I know it could cause me a problem one day, but so far so good... Many of my tanks have sponge over them because of small critters in them. I appreciate you starting this because something besides the ugly yellow sponge will be nice.

[African_Fever]

Hydro does make a sponge prefilter that fits perfectly over the intake tube of an FX5.

Edited February 29, 2008 by African_Fever

[corrosionjerry]

I used a black hydor sponge filter over the intake on several filters that I have used .... acts as another layer of filtration... the black color is the best in my opinion less noticeable...

[Frank]

I do not use a thing over my filters, unless there are fry.Never had a problem even with sand.

[Stacey]

I use rocks! (I've put a couple of rocks directly infront of the fx5 intake, to prevent the Oscar from kicking sand into it during his occasional excavations.)

All other tanks, nothing. I have moved the intakes higher than they would be if I had gravel though.

[mitsukuni]

I'm with Frank: I don't prefilter any tank either unless there's fry-guys. On my fry tank I simply used an AC150 sponge with a slit in through one side.

Unless your intake is right down on the bottom, I don't think there's much risk of sand ingestion. Even my geo tank doesn't get sand in the filters - and there are a lot of big lips sifting through the sand in that tank!

[Go Big or Go Home!]

I use a black filter on the intake (had one ..used it )

multies were spitting sand in that corner and had it piled right up to the bottom of the intake (in one day)

noticed a grinding noise from the filter and had to replace impeller

lesson learned :smokey:

[Parachromis1]

hagen makes ribbed black sponge filters that fit perfectly over the intake tubes of aquaclears

[RD.]

I use black Mag-Drive pre-filter foams on my AC 500's. (in tanks with sand)

I've had enough AC 500's jammed up from sand spitting fish, with good aims, to know better than to never say never. lol

And this is on intakes that are a good 9" off the bottom.

I've yet to have sand ruin an AC 500's impeller, but the impeller shafts take a beating, and all it takes is one single grain to cause the impeller to stop rotating. On one tank that has 3 AC 500's, I had 2 filters jammed with sand in one week, after that I went with Mag-Drive pre-filters and have never looked back.