Wardley Sandman Filter

Product Review	Models Used for this review->MS & LS
Every filter manufacturer likes to claim that their product is the most innovative, and that it filters your tank water better than any other filter. The actual truth is that most filters do about the same job as far as filtering you water goes. They are barely separated at all, but that minute separation leads to many hours of "discussion" in the aquarium hobby. What is generally agreed upon is that the bigger the filter is, the better it will clean out your water. This month I’m reviewing an interesting filter. It’s the Sandman. This filter was designed to add the power of a fluidized bed to the normal power filter. Fluidized beds allow for a lot of surface area in a small space and thus are very useful as a bacteria-breeding area. They can greatly increase your tanks holding capacity and are generally sought after. So the Wardley Sandman was an interesting idea, unfortunately, it didn’t work as well as they would have liked. (SandMan ES, LS, and MS rec. for 10-38gal, 30-75 gal and 05-15 gal respectively)
Maintenance (2)
The Wardley Sandman is frankly the most difficult power filter to maintain that I’ve ever owned all versions were basically the same when it came to maintaining. Setting up the filter for its first use is a nightmare project that takes about 1 hour. Every time you clean the aquarium and need to start the filter up again, it will take at least 20 minutes to get it going. The filter pads usually need to be changed once a week to keep them clean enough for a sufficient amount of water to pass through the filter for it to be effective. As far as maintaining the filter, it’s frankly as bad as it gets. I can’t think of another power filter that takes half this much effort.
Noise (7)
Initially this filter is noisier than anything else you’ll put on your aquarium. However, once it gets all the air bubbles out (a process that takes about 20 minutes) it runs quietly. You of course will have splash sound if you position the unit high enough above the tank that it splashes down, but for what I’ve done, I’ve never run into that problem. The discharge from the filter is low enough to fall easily below the water level of most tanks.
Durability (9)
This filter takes a pretty good beating and keeps going. I’ve put silica sand through the motor and though it jams, it starts right back up, and I haven’t yet been able to damage the impeller doing so. (don’t EVER do that purposefully, you WILL destroy most impellers within seconds) I have left the impeller jammed for over 12 hours and it has never melted down. It does get very hot and I wouldn’t recommend putting your finger in it, but the thing works. If you put a beating on your filters, this one will take it well.
Quality (8)
I’ve used this filter in several different situations, from reef tanks to large American cichlid setups. It performs admirably as long as the flow rate is good. However, the filter pad that does physical filtration at intake is just a little too good for it’s own good. You will HAVE to replace that pad at least weekly in tanks with medium to heavy bio-loads in order for the filter to function properly. If you do change it that often, the filter works quite well.
Overall (7)
This filter does a good job of cleaning, but it requires far too much effort on the part of the aquarist in order to make it work correctly. For my money I’d recommend any other power filter before this one. Though I obtained my SandMans with great anticipation and excitement, the fact is that they just didn’t live up to billing, and that’s too bad. I hope someone will learn from the mistakes made and better the product, but I don’t hold out hope for that happening anytime soon.

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