I have a 55 gallon aquarium with 3 types of catfish, a dragon goby, 4 tetras, and 2 Australian rainbow fish. Here's the problem! I have a top of the line hang on the back filter that has biowheels that help filtration, nitrates, ammonia, etc. I need a filter that helps with this because my big 8 inch pleco is a poop monster and this has a BIG biological load on the tank and it will only get worse because he will get to 2 feet long (in the future I plan to buy a 150-200 gallon aquarium. ) but the problem is that the filter sounds like a diesel truck trying to start on a cold morning. I've taken it apart 4 times in the past 36 hours to find sand by the impellar:( it works for a couple hours after I clean it but sadly there is sand in the motor housing and there is no way to access that. So at midnight last night I had to turn it off in order to sleep. Soon I will clean what I can and run it hopefully it won't burn out because I might not be able to get a filter until tm. (With my luck pet smart won't have the filter I want) figures. But if the filter doesn't run regular I'll loose the cycle and the tanks biological cycle with crash

What kind of filter do you have on it? I am guessing a whisper since that is the popular bio-wheel HOB filter. Did you buy it new? If so it may still be under warranty. Contact the manufacturer and see if they will replace the impellar housing as it may be a defect allowing sand to get in. I agree it should be sealed so that foreign objects dont get in it.
If petsmart dosent have the filter you need and you can get this one running good enough to hold you over get a mesh filter bag and place it over the intake nozzle. That should help you get enough into the filter to keep the wheel active and the sand out until you can get a replacement. If you are concerned about your levels going up you can always do small 2-5 gallon water changes to help keep those down. Test every couple of days and if you notice your parameters getting high, especially ammonia, increase the size of your water changes. Its not a cure all but should help keep your parameters somewhat in check.
How is sand getting up to it?

Its a Marineland penguin biowheel 350. Its 5 months old but I've only had it running for about 2 months. Pet smart has them on sale know for $31.99 it would probably be cheaper just to buy a new one. Im also going to by the mesh or a filter sponge and keep the intake only half way down.

Here's the filter.


Here's what kicks up the sand.

Dragon goby and pleco love to bulldoze and hide/play in the sand so I get hills lol

Yeah for that price it would probably be easier to just replace and use the old wheels to keep you from getting another cycle. That way when you need to replace them you will have some spares. The sponges will work to keep the sand out but just be diligent in keeping them clean so that you dont get a nitrate spike as they will collect a lot of junk and become nitrate factories. Moving the intake up will also help out as those fish love to stir up the sand. Its kind of a double edge sword there. Them kicking up the sand gets the bad stuff up into the water column and into the filter which is good but sadly some of the sand comes with it which is bad.
When you do change them out, just test a couple times a week just to make sure you dont get a spike. Odds are you wont but its worth the little extra time to make sure. If you do it wont be anything that a couple of good water changes and a bag with carbon in it wont take care of.
Since you are going to upgrade the size of your tank in the future have you thought about going ahead and upgrading the filtration system to something like a larger canister filter like a Rena Filstar or Magnum? True they are more in cost but you will already have the filtration ready for a larger system so you will be ready when you do upgrade. Bigger tank equals more fish and more bio-load. If they arent in your budget right now (trust me, I know how it is) then I would go ahead and replace with the new HOB and not have to worry about it. Marineland has been in the business for a long time and has some really good customer service in my experiences with them.
Welcome to fish keeping. Its a relaxing hobby but can be an aggravating PITA at times.

MR BECKEN ,,I HAD A 55 GALLON TNK ALSO .I RAN 2 PENGUINS EXACT SAME AS YOUR RUNNING... AND UNDER GRAVEL GRATE WHERE IT KEPT MY TANK VERY CLEAN AND NEVER DID I HAVE PROBLEM...TY MEAN FOKKER

Mr.Becken wrote: Dragon goby and pleco love to bulldoze and hide/play in the sand so I get hills lol

I've never really thought about a under gravel filter... I don't think that would work sense I have sand. But I got a new filter thank god!

Think I'm going to take a piece of panty hose and put that around the intake tube I heard that will work for stoping sand

YES PANTY HOSE WILL WORK AND PANTY HOSE OVER UNDER GRAVEL FITER WILL WORK...BECAUSE YOUR FILTERS DONT WORK LIKE THERE SUPPOSE TO WITHOUT THE UNDER GRAVEL FILTERS WITH TUBES TO SUCK UP THE JUNK IN BOTTOM OF TANK....YOU WILL BE SUPRISED HOW BETTER YOUR TANK LOOKS...CAUSE ALOT OF JUNK IS EITHER IN SAND OR ON BOTTOM OF TANK UNDER SAND...TY MEAN FOKKER....P.S.UNDER GRAVEL FILTERS ARE HIGHLY SUGGESTED AND IMPORTANT FOR BIGGER AQUARIUMS

Mr.Becken wrote: I've never really thought about a under gravel filter... I don't think that would work sense I have sand. But I got a new filter thank god!

Think I'm going to take a piece of panty hose and put that around the intake tube I heard that will work for stoping sand