Wardly SandMan HOB Filter Question

[Mike B]

Hello All
I just picked up a new in the box wardly sandman es hob filter at a flea market today. Have the filter setup on a 46 gal. fresh water tank as backup for a penguin 200 bio-wheel hob filter which was doing a good job keeping the tank healthy by it self. Researching the filter on the web shows me that the sandman filter is no longer in production and none of the large chain pet stores list it or the replacement filter kits on their websites.
Does anybody know where I can find replacement filter kits for it (preferably local) or have any ideas or information about substitute filter media for it?
Thanks
Mike B

[dblondfemme]

okay... I don't know what kind of filter and I am not scrambling to research it online.. but what I can tell you... is I use the blue filter pads...which in a lot of cases are actually the filters for your A/C cut to fit in my filters... along with panty hose with activated carbon in it. Much much cheaper than most media and does a darned good job.

[cichlidtx]

I bought 4 of these filters yesterday at King Dollar in Tomball because they were only $1. They had quite a few of them on the shelf. Were you able to get yours to work, I tried 3 of them and could not get the water to flow up the intake. I bought them becuase of the price.

[Somefishguy]

what section where they in at king dollar? I may have to take a look at the one close to my house see if i can find one to tinker with

[lilmissruffcountry]

I have had 2 of these filters...and both were a royal pain in the a$$. sand wouldn't stay put, trickle guard would not stay the direction I wanted it, an it would have issues with flow rate on a regular basis. They discontinued them, in my opinion, because they don't work very good. It is a great idea, don't get me wrong, but not very mechanically sound peice of machinery.

[Somefishguy]

Mike what model filter is it? MS, LS, ES

[Somefishguy]

ok i found one at my king dollar.... How the heck do you get this thing to prime..,. I got it going by raising the intake a bit but then it stopped and cant get it going again

[Mike B]

The model I have is the ES. Rated for 10-38 gal.. I also had problems getting mine to start pumping,took it apart and discovered that the pump impeller was damaged,the magnet had come off the inpeller shaft and was spinning when pump was powered up but not driving the impellor at full speed, fixed it with a drop of superglue between magnet and impeller shaft.
Does anybody know where to get the filter floss that lines the intake well and the activated carbon pads that go into the final filter stage?
Thanks
Mike B

[Somefishguy]

I saw the packages for the carbon at king dollar but it was for the smallesr model not the ES. But what i would do if you want the carbon is just put carbon in pantyhose and put in that compartment. What i plan to do if i can get it working well is add the sand, add an aquaclear sponge on top of that, as well as aquaclear sponges in the carbon compartment. I will try and add quilt batting to the filter floss compartment, if that does not work ill take ot off altogeather.

Off the silicon the impeller and magnet.

[Somefishguy]

Thanks Mike....
Worked like a charm now

To bad there was only one at my store and the other stores are too far away

[Mike B]

Thanks Mike....
Worked like a charm now

To bad there was only one at my store and the other stores are too far away

Glad I was able to help and that you were able to get it running. Gonna have to raid all the local king dollar stores for spares tommorow morning when I get off work.
Peace
Mike B

[Somefishguy]

Good luck finding spares, like i said i didn't see anything for this model. If you go ide buy all the filters you can, after the fix it looks like it may a pretty good filter.... other stores are just a bit far for me to venture out and see if they have some more, but ide defiantly want another couple if i could have foudn them.

[Mike B]

Planning on trying to buy about 5 or 10 of the filters and parting them out for spares/project boxes

[cichlidtx]

I just finished adding the super glue between the magnet and the impeller, hope it works. Thanks for the tip.

[Somefishguy]

what i did as well after adding silicone, was to lift the intake slightly up and down as it was on to help get the water moving.