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I just finished reading on of the AQUALOG, Loricariidae book. Being from the USA some of the terms I guessed on. But one of the things I agreed with and have to do is change the material at the bottom of my tank. I have the store bought rocks but they aren't totally rounded. I have notice some marks on some of my bottom dwellers. Now the book said to use sand. Now here's my problem, I'm running a fluval 404 and a tetratec 500. Won't the sand destroy my filters?? How do you all handle this? Thanks for the help in advance. MIKE

I haven't noticed any problems with sand in the two tanks where I use sand. Most filters have a mechanical filtration section, which should stop the sand (and other particles) from reaching the actual impeller mechanism.

Also, if you use the correct type of sand, it should stay down at the bottom. So make sure the intake of the filter is a bit above the bottom, you may need to cut down the "intake pipe" a bit if it's an external filter. Most internal filters can be places at an angle or otherwise hung so that they are not directly on the bottom of the tank.

In my other tanks, I use fine gravel, 2-3 mm (around 1/16-1/8"). This works fine with my Loricariidae.

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Mats

It depends on the size sand you use, and the filter, IME. I used a very fine sand for a time and ruined 2 aquaclear filters, but my canister filter,(xp3) didn't have any problems at all. Of course it doesn't help that my big P Pardalis liked to sit under the filter and dig with his tail, sending clouds of sand everywhere.....
Now I use a courser sand and its heavy enough to stay down. Like MatsP said, you have to keep your intakes higher, and be sure to turn off the filters when doing any vacuuming or redecorating. You could also put a prefilter on your intakes, but be carefull they don't restrict flow too much. HTH.

I got the rocks out of my tank and tomorrow I go on another search for sand. MIKE