Loaches Online Forum

Okay, so I switched to sand since I now know loaches love sand. Problem is...the new sand is abit floaty and has plugged up my two crappy filters...so I went and got a better one...then I got out to a movie..I come back, and my brand new filter isn't working and the power part of it is boiling hot. OH GREAT!!! I thought it fried itself...nope. Turns out it stops working from a bit of sand. This is just stupid....I'm not taking out the sand...my loaches LOVE the sand...you should see their cute little heads or tails just poking out.....They love it.

So my concern is...will the motor thingy do this again and then BURN OUT and fry everything completely if I'm not around somewhat soon enough to find it like this??? I've tried straining the water to get rid of the floaty sand...but we'll see...


All you other people have loaches here....some of you must have sand for your loaches...please tell me what you have done to stop the sand from going up in my filter/AIR pump thingy? It's not an undersubstrate one...that'd be stupid...it's the one that sits outside the tank, with it's tube going in, but the slits are big enough to take in all the sand....

Need some advice from you experts, thanks.

Hello WaterDragonies,

Welcome the LOL,

Here is a link to a thread where someone else was having similar trouble.
There are some links in this thread to some products that might help you.

Click Here

Put a sponge over the intake to the filter. I use the Aquaclear sponges. You will need to clean these sponges of debris, they will grow a good bacterial population, and they also keep fry out of the filters.

put some filter material on the outside of the pump intake. this will prevent most of the sand from getting in. but i have the same problems. if you have an aquaclear you can order new impeller parts but i have gone through 3 in the last few weeks. the sand does get to be a big problem. only other option for me would be to get a larger grain sand that is a bit heavier or go back to gravel.

sorry didn't see dianas post. yes do that. that is what i do. i give the sponge a good cleaning when i do water changes twice a week.

Wow, hey guys thanks alot for the posts. Seriously, really helped. It's wierd though...my new filter hasn't had a problem all night at all...Maybe the new sand finally settled in? The water looks clear now too. I'm still going to get a thingy to attatch onto it, because there's no telling when my loaches decided to burrow under it kicking up heaps of sand.


Gonna get this

Pic from here http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=4638

My loaches just love their sand so much it'd be cruel to take it away from them now. There's always atleast one burried. Some of them completely bury themselves and all you see it the tip of tail out or a little barbel...it's sooo cute I wish I could get a picture.

i have gone through 3 ac70s in the last few months because of sand. you really need to put filter material. i have this attachment as well. but it only keeps out so much sand on the ac jethead.

Where's the intake located on your filter? If it is close to the sand, try raising it up higher and use an aquaclear sponge over it.
Only need to make an X slit into it as deep as you want it to cover the intake and stuff it on there. The little ones will work, or you can get a larger one and cut it to the size you need. The bigger the better for both filtering out sand and debris and building extra bacterial filtration.

This is a major advantage of Martins manifold. The intake is high drawing down from the surface or at least not up from the bottom and the discharge is low keeping your sand flowing. Simply turn your suction mount upside down or shim it solid to the pump and put the filter upside down sponge up ,discharge down . It does not care .Mine packed with sand when within 5-6" of the bottom. I mounted two this way to solve this problem in my tank when I added sand and encountered the same issue's

i raised it like 10" from the bottom.

For my filstar xp's, instead of using sponges over the intakes, I made a strainer type pre-filter. What I do is take an empty16.9 oz water bottle and drill a few hundred tiny holes in it. A water bottle fits perfectly over the Filstar intakes. This pre-filter will keep sand, fry. shrimp, and snails from getting sucked into the filter.

If it ever starts getting clogged, I just unplug the filter, then give the bottle a few shakes under the water, and the debris will just fall off.

The best part about using water bottles is that it's very cheap. If you have square intakes, then the bottle idea won't work.

I just cut the intake tub off 6cm or so.