Converting to sand; worried about filter clogs

[Tempestuousfury]

I have a HOB filter in my 10 gallon tank, and the intake sits rather low (even without the extension pipe). I want to convert from gravel to sand. I have owned tanks with sand in the past, but I guess I had good luck in terms of clogging and HOB breakdowns from sand.

Long story short, I am looking to see if creating a sleeve for the intake out of a sponge (yellow car sponge from the dollar store) would prevent sand clogs. I've used the sponges in the past for years and recently to slow down water flow for a betta, so I believe they are safe for the tank.

Can anyone please advise? Thank you.

 

[StandbySetting]

I'd use filter floss personally as it is designed to catch small particles.you could also sit the intake inside a plastic bottl with the top cut off to stop it from sucking in the substrate.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I'd use filter floss personally as it is designed to catch small particles.you could also sit the intake inside a plastic bottl with the top cut off to stop it from sucking in the substrate.

I do have floss, so that sounds like a good idea. Is it very effective at catching sand, though?

The bottle also sounds like an interesting solution, but if I stir the sand to release the anaerobic pockets, would that potentially skirt the bottle?

 

[Byron]

My suggestion would be a sponge filter. The Betta will be happier, and the sand won't be an issue. I never stir the sand in some tanks; if it is not deeper than it needs to be, this works well.

 

[StandbySetting]

Anaerobic pockets are harmless in home aquaria, hydrogen sulphide is oxidised upon contact with oxygenated water, infact they can be beneficial as they can harbour nitrogen fixing bacteria.

 

[AbbeysDad]

As you can see in my avitar, I have a silica (pool filter) sand substrate AND I have two Aquaclear 70 filters on my 60g tank. There is never any sand in the filter, but I don't have the inlets down that low. If you keep the inlet tube off the surface of the sand, you should be fine.
Having said that, there are some very fine sands that really aren't best suited for the aquarium.
You could always use a Fluval pre-filter sponge over the inlet, but they do tend to plug pretty quickly.

 

[AlexJordan]

I've had both HOB/sponge and gravel/sand, and from what I can see as long as you don't have the filter running while the sand is still settling, no sand gets picked up. If you run it while it's settling, just give it a rinse to avoid clogging issues. Once it settles, there's no sand at all.