What type of filtration?

[SwimminSteve]

I recently moved my juvie GABF to a 20g long 50/50 land & water tank. He absolutely LOVES the water half. I'm so glad I decided to put in the effort with installing a glass divider rather than give a big water dish. His "pond" is about 4.5 inches deep with a 1/4in. layer of aquarium sand. He's been in this set up for about 2 weeks. I started out running a whisper 10i filter which quickly stopped working (probably clogged). I knew this might happen, but now I'm not really sure what to do. His water gets really dirty in a matter of days (no big surprise there). Between his shedded skin, massive poops, and ecoearth, I'm fighting a losing battle to keep it clean. I've been doing a 90-100% water change every 4-5 days. I'm okay with a weekly water change, but I need a good filter to regain my sanity!

It's only a maximum of 5 gallons of water in there, but I think I may need a canister. I'm really concerned about all the skin and ecoearth (that falls in when he gets in the water) that might clog another filter.
So for those of you with 50/50 set ups- how are you keeping your water clean?!

My frog is roughly 5 months old and 5in SVL. He spends the majority of his time sitting on a rock in his pond section.
Has anyone ever used damp aquarium sand as the land substrate for a bullfrog? Or something other than ecoearth? I'm considering switching my ecoearth to sand, since my guy rarely ever burrows anymore. I'm sure he could burrow in damp sand too if he wanted.

I appreciate any ideas!!

[Mentat]

Myself would not use sand as a dry substrate with an ABF. First thing would do is remove the sand from water section; that is just adding more to your filter woes since sand clogs pads and damages impellers.

A canister is the way to go with big frogs; irrelevant of water volume. Look at models by Rena Filstar (now API), Ehiem, or the new Fluvals. When comparing you want to take note at flow rates, electrical consumption, and total tray filter areas. Once you get one; fill up those trays with biomedia and coarse pond type pads. Avoid charcoal and anything that will clog easily. Good luck !

[SwimminSteve]

Thanks!! I'm looking into a good canister now. Hope to purchase one within the week.

[SwimminSteve]

Would it be crazy overkill to go for a Fluval 306? Maybe a 206 makes more sense. Right now it's only about 5-6 gallons, but eventually he'll get upgraded to a 40 gallon breeder with up to 20 gallons of water. I don't want to buy a new filter down the line, so I'd like to get something that can follow this frog up to the bigger tank.

[Glenn]

I'm using a Rena/API filstar xp4 with no issues for roughly 7 gallons of water in a 40 gallon.
my advice would be go as big as you can.

[SwimminSteve]

Alright! Ordered a fluval 306 online. Hope to have it in a few days. I've never done a canister before and I'm not thrilled about cutting holes in my screen top for tubing, but it will all be worth it to have some clean water!
Thanks for the help

[Mentat]

You could drill holes on glass wall if tank is not fully tempered; but that is more drastic than making holes on screen top .