# FX6 with sand substrate



## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

So I know there are a few people on this forum that run FX6s, do you also have sand for substrate in your tank? Recently I have started have noise issues with my FX6 and I'm pretty sure its because there is so much sand getting sucked into the canister and even into the impeller. This weekend I took the FX6 apart for the first time to clean out the motor and impeller and there was a decent amount of sand. There is always sand inside the FX6, quite a bit on the bottom. After I cleaned it out this weekend I put it back together and the noise started up again almost immediately. Does anyone else have a lot of sand getting into their FX6? I ordered a pre-filter sponge to try and prevent so much sand from getting into it but I'm afraid its going to get clogged really fast.


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## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

Shorten you intake so it's not so close to the substrate.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

Cyphound said:


> Shorten you intake so it's not so close to the substrate.


I considered this but I don't want it too short because i use my FX6 drain to drain the tank during water changes. If its too short I won't be able to drain much water. Plus my plumbing is modified, I'm not using the FX6 strainer or telescoping pipe that came with it. I hard piped my FX6 with PVC and vinyl, so in order for me to shorten the intake pipe I would have to take the PVC apart and cut it, not an easy job for me to do. But I may have to.


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## ramonj6047 (Aug 4, 2011)

i have an FX5 and FX6 on my 180 but my substrate is pool filter sand which isn't as fine as aquarium sand, i occasionally get sand in the canister but i haven't seen it reach the impeller. prob best bet is to cut the intake pipes.

can always point power head near the area to lift up any debris. also depends which fish you have i have found sand in my HOB 110 :-I when i had Africans. (mostly south american now)


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

gillmanjr said:


> Cyphound said:
> 
> 
> > Shorten you intake so it's not so close to the substrate.
> ...


Maybe your modifications and the way you are using the fx6 is the problem.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

I've got three Fx5's running on sand substrate tanks, and yeah you will get some sand in them no matter what. Cichlids being sand sifters the sand will reach the intake at some point over time no matter how high it is. I tried the prefilter sponge over the intake to see what happened and it does get dirty and cut flow rather quickly so I took it off and just clean out the filter every few months. Usually taking out the impeller and giving it a good cleaning will get rid of the noise, sometimes I've had to do it twice to finally get rid of it. Over time the impeller will need to be replaced though because the sand will finally wear the bushing and magnet to the point of a constant noise. Far as how long...I've had some go 2 yrs since replaced and some that are going on 5 yrs.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

BlueSunshine said:


> gillmanjr said:
> 
> 
> > Cyphound said:
> ...


The modification is months old and the FX6 was fine up until a week ago. I have no doubt that the intake mod is allowing more sand to get into the filter, I think I'm going to have to cut the pipe a little to move it further away from the substrate. But first I want to try the prefilter sponge.


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

Steve C is correct about the prefilter, it will work but clog very fast. I too run fx6's on sand and clean sand out every time I do maintenance. I've had no problem at all with wear on the impellers. Some have been running over three years.
How and how often do you clean your fx6 filter?


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## Ichthys (Apr 21, 2016)

How much water do you drain out with it? Could you not have the intake half way down the tank? This would let you empty 50%... I have mine like this and don't get any sand in it at all. Put a foam over the strainer if you still get sand in it.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

I'm not running the stock FX6 intake filter, my modification included a regular 1" black PVC intake pipe with a 1" bulkhead screen strainer. I would say its about 70% of the way down and I usually do drain all the way down during water changes.

I do weekly water changes and clean out the FX6 monthly.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

So I tried a strainer inside my tank on the FX6 intake. All I can say about that is don't bother...LOL. After less than 24 hours it was unbelievably clogged, literally every square millimeter of it was clogged with waste or sand. It was amazing that the FX6 was still operating. I couldn't help but laugh.

So anyway I pulled the intake pipe off and cut about 2 inches off it. And since cleaning my FX6 out last week I haven't had any more noise problems. Seems to be OK now and it still sits pretty low in the tank.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

I told ya  lol. Those things get clogged so fast it's unreal.

On a related note I just did filter maintenance on one of the fx5's on my 240g over the weekend, bet I cleaned out 2 full cups worth of sand from the bottom of the canister. It was still running dead silent at the time, amazing how tough those filters are.


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

The intake needs to be a decent distance off the bottom of your substrate. You might even want to dig out around the intake some. Cichlids shifting about will cause some sand to get sucked up, you cant do anything about it. Using any type of micro filter pad or floss will only end up constricting the flow because of how quickly it'll get clogged up. I used to have one on my 125 with pool filter sand. The pool filter sand luckily was heavy enough to where the FX6 didnt suck alot up.


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