well, in the interest of not having someone follow behind me and mess up too, i have to say my converted sand filter finally started to clog, but fortunately it was fixable.
since i only have experience with this one (i have another big sand one but i haven't been in it), i don't know if they're all made the same, but mine has what look like hair curlers radiating out at the bottom of the tube that's part of the outlet. they have really fine slits in them that worried me a little, and they screw off so i could have removed them, but since the water would go throught the pads and balls first i decided to leave them on.
so it took about two weeks. each morning i'd go out and look over things and earlier this week i noticed the water flow seemed a little low. after a few days i could see for sure the flow was less. i knew the curler things had to be the problem so i ended up taking the filter apart and taking them off the outlet tube.
so now the flow is good again. better than before even. i may drill out the ends of the curler things and put them back though. i think they help position the tube in the filter and make it easier to line it up with the top.
moral to the story? once you start experimenting, you're on your own
and probaly don't listen to a noob