Product review - Never Clog Weighted Airstones

[BallAquatics]

Hi Jan.  It's called J Channel.  You can find it with the vinyl siding at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.  I'm not fond of working with glass so I used this material.  Since it's vinyl the silicon will stick to it very well and hold it to the tank wall just as it would a piece of glass.  It's like $4.00 for a 12' section.



I've got some photos somewhere of the modifications I do to it if I can find them.....

Dennis

[wiggs]

Thanks Dennis,I was wondering how that was done. I like DIY projects and will try to tackle anything. I made a large flight cage some years ago when I was breeding finches. It  had 2 levels and each was 6 ft. long by 2ft. wide 2ft. high., that way the birds could fly back and forth and get lots of exercize.    

[BallAquatics]

You sound like my kind of girl Jan!

I love DIY too.  I think it brings me closer to my hobby.  When you build it yourself, you know how it works and why it works.

Dennis

[P4Angels]

Wow this thread could almost be spit into another how 2?

[Mugwump]

It goes that way sometimes. Topics get started, and then meander around some other interesting things ....

[PaulineMi]

That's what I like about this forum.   It's like sitting around the table chatting over a cup of coffee.

[Mugwump]

That's what I like about this forum.   It's like sitting around the table chatting over a cup of coffee.

Coffee?....I need to grab a refill...

[BallAquatics]

Found 'em!!!!!

This is the 'J' channel just cut to length.  These went into some 40 breeders so they are somewhere around 15.5 inches long.....



This is with the channel with most of the hook part cut off of the J.  You only need just a little bit to grab hold of the foam so I cut most of it off.  The cut-offs are shown in the photo too.....



This is the channel all trimmed and ready to silicone into the tank.  These were all cut using a table saw, but when I first started playing around with these corner HMF's I cut the pieces using just a utility knife.....



Here the pieces are glued in place with silicone in the tanks.  I let them set 24 hours before installing the foam....



With the foam installed.....


All done.....


Hope these help you with your DIY project.

Dennis

[P4Angels]

Oh Dennis, did you just open a can of worms for me.... Now Lori wants them in all the tanks.....  Thanks gees.... lol

[BillT]

Great documentation of the how-to Dennis!

[wiggs]

Dennis, Thanks for the pictures and  the explaination of how you did this. I would have went to the store and looked at the channels and thought..... Huh! how did he do that!  I now know that I will try this in some of our tanks. Where do you buy your sponge / foam from?   

[BallAquatics]

.... Now Lori wants them in all the tanks.....

Smart girl.  Seriously, I love these filters.  I wanted to keep all the benefits of the HMF while saving a bit on the cost of foam and these do that perfectly.

Great documentation of the how-to Dennis!

Thanks Bill.  I knew I had these photos, just had to track them down.

Where do you buy your sponge / foam from?

I get all my foam from Stephan at http://www.swisstropicals.com/filtration-shop/poret-foam-shop/, and I'm not just saying that because we are good friends.  I've made sponge/foam filters for years now, using all sorts of materials and for the money the Poret is hands down the best value.  Just check out the reference page http://www.swisstropicals.com/references/, I'm sure you will see some very familiar names of people who are switching over to the Poret foam in their fish rooms.

Dennis

[wiggs]

Dennis, Thanks again for all of the information. I will be trying this sometime this year. I hopefully will have some extra time to get it done in a few tanks. I like this idea as it looks easy to change the sponge filter and put in new clean one. I also want to try the lids that Aron  made up. I was thinking about the stuff that they used and it hit me, I could make a green house out ot it. A small one of course, but I will think that over for awhile.   

[BillT]

Dennis, Thanks again for all of the information. I will be trying this sometime this year. I hopefully will have some extra time to get it done in a few tanks. I like this idea as it looks easy to change the sponge filter and put in new clean one. I also want to try the lids that Aron  made up. I was thinking about the stuff that they used and it hit me, I could make a green house out ot it. A small one of course, but I will think that over for awhile. 

I think that making greenhouses out of this stuff is one of the main reasons for its existence:

You can get kits to make greenhouses or buy the components and do it yourself. They can actually get quite large with the proper framing. I have seem very large greenhouses made with this stuff on fish farms housing many very large fish ponds.

Truly the best and most proper use of a greenhouse!

[wiggs]

why not plants and fish, I`m willing to share with the fish ---  LOL