suggestions...

fish1983

Any suggestions on how to make it so that my sand like plant substrate doesn't get suspended in the water so much just floating around.... it gets sucked into my filter and i have to tear apart the filter everyfew days to clean up the impeller cause it starts making grinding noise from the substrate...

dfbiggs

Did you rinse it well before you put it in? If not that would help some. Is it floating because you are creating strong current? Maybe you could turn down the flow. If your intake is close to the substrate maybe move it up.

You could also add more plants as a barrier so its not getting stirred up or add some heavy substrate.

fish1983

Workin on getting some more plants. I added a heavier substrate as well maybe ill get some gravel too... Its been in the tank for about a year. Good substrate just annoying :) thanks for the tips!
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dfbiggs

I know what you mean..you can also get creative and instead of trying to cover with plants or substrate you can stack large flat rocks like a cave..hmm..just trying to help..not sure if you want to do that..

The Game

Well depending on the look youre going for, they are different approaches you can use.
In one of my tanks, im growing rice plants with a female fighter and the substrate is just sandy loam with all the black things washed out (think its silt or something). I was afraid that the water would stir up the sand so badly and cloud up the water that i have a layer of small pebbles and it works fine, although i think that i can remove the pebbles if i wanted to and it wouldnt make much of a difference.
If you don't want pebbles, you can maybe get some java moss and cover up the open areas, itll give it a nice grassy look.
If its a rocky, cavey look youre going for, you could put some big rocks in front of the filter intake, but dont block it off completely and use rocks to cover up the open areas as well.
Well thats all the suggestions i can come up with for now.
By the way, how big is this tank and what are you keeping in it?

fish1983

Its a 55 and the large flat rocks and moss are great ideas... I was thinking I could also use a sponge prefilter on the intake of the filter... That could also help... But rocks and moss for sure!
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dfbiggs

Yeah I recommend presponge filters for every tank. It's a safety feature also. Good luck!