I only have a sand bed of about 1". I managed to get the filter working again, but it still drips about a quarter size puddle on the top of the filter about once an hour. I ordered the parts but at the earliest they will get here wednesday. I use filter pads and ceramic media in the canister. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to take out the ceramic media at a later time and maybe put in some LR rubble in its place? I would like to get a mandarin later and right now I am trying to stick to fish that won't eat the copepods. Would the LR in the canister be a good place for copepods to grow uninterrupted, besides the ones in the tank itself?