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I have a couple airstones, not wands, in my tank that I'm not happy with. I have hard water & after a couple days (it seems) I see a diminishing in the airflow that continues until few bubbles are left or they turn into a few LARGE bubbles.

Since I have a 55gal. I have to emerse an arm completely into the tank & struggle to remove the airstone, usually uprooting the airline tubing that I have spent so much time & trouble hiding. I then scrub it with a brush & let it soak in white vinegar for awhile. This restores it & it operates great until it starts clogging up again.

I have done a net search & found non clogging "wands". I would prefer a small stone. I also don't know if I trust the companies that say it is non clogging. I would rather take the word of people here on FP that have stones that don't clog up easily. So if any of you have stones that you are happy with, please tell me about them, so I get some.

Any help in reducing my frustration here would be much appreciated.

Keithgh, if you read this, I tried to find the stones you told about in one of your posts, but I can't find them.

I use small but you can make them large as you want to they are a plastic/nylon material and come apart very easily as you can see. I clean them with a tooth brush occasionally (mine are in the risers for the UGF in the 5ft tank) One thing about these they never wear out. The tighter you put them together the finer the bubbles.

I hope this helps if required I can explain more in Chat to you.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Attached Image:


Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Photo No2

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Attached Image:


Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thanks for the pics keith. What I really need is to know where I can find these. A technical name I can look up on the net maybe? You thought they were made by Tetra, but I couldn't find them under that name. I couldn't find any stones anywhere that even came close to looking like yours.

For some reason, chat censors " " so I'll try putting the link here....

http://www. /catalogue_products.php?prodID=3297

I've also PMed it, so hopefully one of them will work.

I vote! Do you?

Oh for heaven's sake...

The censored part is "aquarium products . com . au", but without the spaces!

I vote! Do you?

Thanks twi! Those are them! I'm on it! /:'

Have you tried the cork air stone (obviously not stones). they are made of wood and work well. i really believe that sediment wont attach to them.

Hi,
Most of what clogs the air-stones is a bacteria that forms
a film all over the stone and in the spaces between the
grains. Over time the bacteria can eat away at the cement
that holds the grains together and the stone will
literally fall apart. The wooden ones are sometimes sanded
but I found that sanding them forces the sawdust into the
pores and can make things worse. Soaking in a Clorox
solution and then scrubbing under running water can help.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

No, I haven't tried the cork or wooden airstones kantankerous. I saw them during my web search though. Since you like them I will give them a serious look & thought. Thanks for that!

Thanks frank......I didn't know all that. I thought it was the calcium that clogged them up, since the vinegar would take care of it.

I tried the fine wooden ones also a soft solid foam type they all are useless compared to the plastic ones.

FP my offer still stands

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

stainless steel airstones work very well IME

---

''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Hi Patty,

I was in the LFS today and saw the plastic airstones that Keith showed pics of.

The brand is "Mozoo", but a google search of that name didn't come up with many relevant results... and none of them were US aquarium supply companies unfortunately.

Not much help I know, but hopefully the brand name will give you a bit more of a lead to track down a supplier local to you.

G_T





Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

They make stainless steel airstones? I'll have to go have a look at them.

I looked up Mozoo too Troppo & didn't get any farther than you did. I need to call some pet stores in a nearby city to take some platties off my hands, so I will ask about airstones while I'm at it.

Thanks for all the input everybody! I really appreciate it!

alright i got it. search for
The Sweetwater Diffuser
is a high quality ceramic diffuser that is bond with glass so no matter what i won't dissolve. It can get clogged as can all but that when a little vingar will restore it to new. My reseach are shown that these are unparalled.
Still want options.. consider an all plastic difusser
micro porous polyethylene diffusers actually.
has some draw backs compared to the sweetwater dif. but pretty good still.. who it helps.

Thanks kantankerousmind! I'll look into those!