I notice a lot of leaves get into the filter intakes. Do you put anythingb
on the intake to avoid this or just let them go in and clean often?

Put filter foam or a clean nylon stocking over the intake. Not only does this
allow you to go longer between cleaning and/or changing the filter media, it
keeps small fish, snails, shrimp, etc., from being sucked into the filter.

The Aquaclear foam inserts are a good choice. (Don't just use any sponge.
Filter foam is designed to have water pass through it, normal foam/sponge
isn't.) A lot of other companies sell foam prefilters that can be used with a
variety of filters, too. I use cylindrical black foam prefilters from
petsolutions.com.



Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/