Filter Intake Question

May 6, 2008 @ 5:19 pm · Filed under Philippines Internet Koi Society

What I’ve been doing for fry or cherry shrimp tanks works quite well. I went to JoAnn’s/Michaels/Hobby Lobby/etc and bought a square 2″ x 14″ x 14″ of poly foam. It’s what you would make seat cushions out of, of course this one would make a very small seat cushion. I just make sure that I get the one that I can blow or suck air through very easily. Every once in a while I get funny looks when people see me sucking foam, but that’s life.
For one example, I have an aquaclear HOB filter with an intake about an inch in diameter. So I turned this square on its side and measured 2″ over and 4″ down. So I ended up with a 4″ tall, 2″ wide, and 2″ deep square of foam.
Next I squish it under running water to get it full of water and then stick it in the freezer. The next day I take it out and grab my electric drill with about a 3/4″ bit on it. Drill a hole from the top stopping about 1/2″ from the bottom. Just to be pretty I take a sharp knife and cut the corner edges off of it to make the edges more round, but you don’t have to. You can put it back in the freezer if it start to thaw. It’s easier to cut when frozen. Once you’re done, just run some water over it and it will thaw out almost instantly.
Slide that up on my filter intake and I can’t even tell there’s a slow down of water flow. Now no little critters can get into my filter. No need for a rubber band, just drill the hole a little smaller than your intake line’s diameter.
The other affect of this is it almost polishes the water because the holes are so small. Instead of keeping much filter material in the HOB, I can put other stuff in there and just swish out this sponge every once in a while when it gets nasty or water flow slows. I figure the sponge also makes a great bed for the bacteria to grow.
Something else I like in my Cherry tank is they gather on the sponge and eat the bits of stuff that stick to it. It’s almost like giving them a little buffet. haha.
Oh, and I can make a whole bunch of these for the $3 I paid at Hobby Lobby (actually where I got it). I’ve used aquarium sealant to glue squares together to make them taller a time or two and that’s worked well too.
Have fun makeing sponges. Lynn