Another advantage to most canister filters

[maxwellag]

I just realized this: if you have sand in your tank and you use a canister filter, sand will at some point get sucked into the filter. But the impeller will never get clogged or broken or whatever, because the filter media is usually before the impeller, so the sand is caught in the media before it can even reach the impeller.

 

[George9]

Exactly!! That's why canister fitters are AWESOME

 

[mfdrookie516]

Why do you say sand will get sucked in to the filter? I've never found sand in any of my canisters.

 

[George9]

I guess it won't get sucked in when you aren't doing anything, but if you kick it up moving decorations or something it might get sucked in, but I just turn the filter off when I do that.

 

[maxwellag]

Why do you say sand will get sucked in to the filter? I've never found sand in any of my canisters.

Well, I guess it doesn't always hapen, but a lot of times fish will dart around and kick it up. It might also get sucked in when cleaning or rearanging.

 

[maxwellag]

Well, I guess it doesn't always hapen, but a lot of times fish will dart around and kick it up. It might also get sucked in when cleaning or rearanging.

I would've edited this in there but it's too old lol. When I turn the filter on in my 10g tank black sand gets sucked up sometimes and stops the impeller. The black sand I was using has very small particles, so there's the reason why sometimes sand gets sucked up.

 

[LyndaB]

Why do you say sand will get sucked in to the filter? I've never found sand in any of my canisters.

I actually have experienced this problem. It was when I made the mistake of using play sand instead of pool filter sand. When my featherfin cat would scavenge, he would raise dust clouds. This was months after the substrate had been rinsed numerous times prior to placement. I recently changed the play sand over to eco-complete, because I couldn't stand the muddiness anymore. The interior of my canister was just nasty. Never had the same issue with pool filter sand, though.

 

[stingrays4]

Hi this can be a problem with big fish too as they like to 'rearrange' the tank all to often,so sand can get sucked in to the external filter! I usually have my intakes for my externals several inches of the base so as not 'suck' in any sand.Also you can use a 'pre-filter' usually a sponge placed over the intake strainer,this is then simply rinsed out,usually weekly,this also prolongs the time before you clean out the main filter I do this on my shrimp tanks,stops shrimps getting 'sucked' into the filter.