Anyone know about HMFs?

[Adam S]

You can glue a 1" sheet to a 2" sheet with silicone, but 2" should be fine. You might have to secure it with with PVC, which is easy to do with a heat gun. I can upload a picture later when I get home. Make sure to cut it an extra 1/2"+ wider than the tank for a snug fit.

The foam you linked looks A+. Reticulated just refers to the structure and means basically the same thing as open pore/cell. The bit that separates good foam from eh foam is the material: polyether (good) vs. polyester (eh). Think of normal hydro sponges (ester) vs. Pro hydro sponges (ether).

[LizStreithorst]

You guys know things that I would never know in a million years. Thank God for the smart people on Simply.

Adam, Your shrimp and plants are doing great. I know I have thanked you in PM's but never in the open forum. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I want to do a little more rearranging before I post pics, but the tank should be ready for prime time later today.

[brady]

Liz on their mat. data sheet for the speaker foam they say no fire retardant.
Jay

[LizStreithorst]

I saw that.

[Adam S]

You guys know things that I would never know in a million years. Thank God for the smart people on Simply.

Adam, Your shrimp and plants are doing great. I know I have thanked you in PM's but never in the open forum. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I want to do a little more rearranging before I post pics, but the tank should be ready for prime time later today.

Anytime, Liz. I wanted to send along some other green stuff, but shipping boxes lose too much space to heat packs this time of year. Have (lots of) patience with those Bolbitis clippings, and they'll eventually grow wider than and out of a 55 gallon. They'll like your water way better than mine.

[LizStreithorst]

I'm in no rush, Adam. The plants are all healthy and it's fun to watch things develop.

My half sheet of foam will arrive tomorrow. Gold old FedEx got it here a day early.

[RogueDiscus]

Is there something special about the construction of the foam for the HMF's? Or better, what kind of foam do you want to buy for filtrations? You can buy foam sheets lots of places, but I'm thinking not all allow flow through them.

[LizStreithorst]

It must be open pore, not treated with fire retardants or anything other toxic thing, and 2" to 3" thick depending on the width of the tank.

[Adam S]

To add on to what Liz said: polyether (water resistant), rigid (some better than others even if made of the same material), and generally 20-30ppi.

[LizStreithorst]

Do NOT use this foam! It's toxic to fish!!!!! I didn't loose any only because I was watching carefully.

[Swedgin]

There are loads of aquarium filter foams on amazon, also reasonably priced from what I can tell. Did you look into these?

[fljones3]

Do NOT use this foam! It's toxic to fish!!!!! I didn't loose any only because I was watching carefully.

I’m glad you were watching. Must not take long.

[LizStreithorst]

It did not take long, Frank. It was pretty scary.

Tobi, I did look. None of them are as large as I need for my big tanks.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Maybe you can try to contact these guys
http://www.newenglandfoam.com/filter.html
Or you could look at foam pads for pond filters, they tend to be big and fish safe

[LizStreithorst]

Newenglandfoam.com might work. They sell polyether foam and say that they make foam for aquaculture. They don't state the thickness of their foam. I'll have to phone them to find out more. First, I need to get over the stress of this. I did loose some fish after all. As soon as I saw that they were ill I dumped them into a tank with clean water. At first they seemed to recover, but when I checked later, all but 2 were dead and I don't hold out a lot of hope for them.