Riccia blocking filter intake

[NiaCas]

I added some riccia to a tank as a floating plant. It's growing fine, but some of it keeps going down into the water and getting sucked up to the canister filter intake. There are a bunch of strands blocking the intake now. I brush them off, but there's more later. Is there a way to keep this from happening?

 

[ScotJudd]

I'm presuming you already have some sort of plastic cage on the inlet, most do. If you got some course foam a little larger than the cage and cut out the centre of the foam you can slide it over the cage. This would stop the plant stems being sucked in. You would have to keep the foam free of debris about once a week to ensure the filter does lose water flow. But it could work. An added bonus will be the additional BB that would seed the foam. Win Win.
I did something similar because my baby shrimps made it past all defences and ended up in the canister filter (healthy and growing by the way).


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[NiaCas]

Yeah, I do have a cage. That's actually what I meant - the cage is covered in ricca. Water's still getting through, but larger particles like fish waste or bits of dead plant or fish food can't get through the cage unless I keep brushing the riccia off of it. I think the riccia would probably just stick to the sponge as well and the sponge also wouldn't allow bigger particles that I want sucked out, to be..well..sucked out lol

 

[Fishfur]

Riccia is somewhat infamous for this problem. Either get a floating box to grow it in, or confine it in some netting and tie it down to a piece of rock or wood. Once it grows through the netting, you can trim it like a lawn.

Letting it float free, it gets pushed down by the filter return and if you don't confine it, there's really not much way to stop it gathering as it does on the filter intake.