Hi, I got my sewing machine out today to finally get around to making my poor naked dogs some new jumpers when I hit upon the idea of making some filter bags cause the ones ive seen cost the earth. If this is possible whats the best kind of material to use? I thought of maybe stocking kind of material or fine netting? Any ideas?

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thanks
Karen
200 liter tank, jbl canister filter, hydor external inline heater containing:
3 dalmation sailfin mollies
2 saffron balloon mollies
3 sunset platies
10 neon tetras
4 male guppies
3 panda corys
2 spotted corys
2 leopard plecos (rehoming soon)
2 mosaic gouramis
3 dwarf gourami
5 pink tetra
5 glass catfish

40 liter with 7 molly fry and a bumblebee shrimp
:fish

Why not just use pantyhose as media bags if you are going the DIY route? Otherwise use nylon mesh or tulle.

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75 Gallon Planted

I thought this was a good idea too but I wasnt sure if it would be thick enough. The bags ive seen are heavier than pantyhose and a bit padded. I have some very fine netting though that should do the job.

__________________
thanks
Karen
200 liter tank, jbl canister filter, hydor external inline heater containing:
3 dalmation sailfin mollies
2 saffron balloon mollies
3 sunset platies
10 neon tetras
4 male guppies
3 panda corys
2 spotted corys
2 leopard plecos (rehoming soon)
2 mosaic gouramis
3 dwarf gourami
5 pink tetra
5 glass catfish

40 liter with 7 molly fry and a bumblebee shrimp
:fish

Empty filter bags sold at Petsmart are like $3 and re-usable. Unless you were talking about the material contained inside?

What type of filter do you have? Although I purchased some, I didn't use any new filter media in the HOB fillter I owned for over a year....just no reason to use. I don't use carbon (not needed) and the sponge and bio-max I just rinsed out.

Ditto. $3-5 and you can have one already made that will last a very long time.

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Biologist-Professional Aquarium Care-Published Author (Aquarium Fish International Magazine)

Stocking has NOTHING to do with tank volume, it is all about water changes.

Why not use quilt batting? I watched a video on youtube earlier about someone making bags out of this for a Whisper HOB filter- Think I might try it.

Try Fosterandsmith.com. They have some really inexpensive house bags. They are 750 micron so won't filter anything but they are good for holding things that will and not restricting water flow.

I use quilt batting to filter out the fine particles in my DIY filter. It works pretty good.

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75 Gallon Planted

Thanks everyone, Unfortunately we dont have those stores here but I sure wish we did. Ben my filter is a jbl e900 canister. Ive been having problems with cloudy water so thats why I want to use purigen...will be getting some carbon to get rid of the residue from the ich treatment thats nearly finished. Quilt padding sounds like a great idea, going to try to get some

__________________
thanks
Karen
200 liter tank, jbl canister filter, hydor external inline heater containing:
3 dalmation sailfin mollies
2 saffron balloon mollies
3 sunset platies
10 neon tetras
4 male guppies
3 panda corys
2 spotted corys
2 leopard plecos (rehoming soon)
2 mosaic gouramis
3 dwarf gourami
5 pink tetra
5 glass catfish

40 liter with 7 molly fry and a bumblebee shrimp
:fish

I use pantyhose to make my own bags for carbon, works great! Once when I didn't have any old pantyhose I used scraps of voile fabric to make filter bags on the sewing machine, it worked too. The bags are made out of recycled stuff so it doesn't cost anything and it takes little time to do, I make a bunch of them at a time, then just use them when I want to. I like being able to throw them out when I'm done so I don't have to mess with emptying and refilling. It's probably worth considering any residue of detergents or soap that have been used to wash fabric, or chemicals that come from the factory, if unsure soak or rinse well before using.

Thanks again everyone. Snail that seems like a great idea...disposable bags so you dont have to deal with washing messy ones. Im going to make a batch as you say with different material and see what works best.

__________________
thanks
Karen
200 liter tank, jbl canister filter, hydor external inline heater containing:
3 dalmation sailfin mollies
2 saffron balloon mollies
3 sunset platies
10 neon tetras
4 male guppies
3 panda corys
2 spotted corys
2 leopard plecos (rehoming soon)
2 mosaic gouramis
3 dwarf gourami
5 pink tetra
5 glass catfish

40 liter with 7 molly fry and a bumblebee shrimp
:fish

Panty hose can rip pretty easily but maybe that is the brand my wife hands down. I have found delicate cloths laundry bags that work before. I recomended Fosterandsmith.com because I bought a pack of six bags for $12 online from them. I have also re-cycled bags from things like Chemi-Pure.
Purigen is pretty fine grit so test it for leaks before you actually put it in the filter. I use the high dollar bags from Seachem for my Purigen because it is so expensive. They do not have seams and the only problem I have ever had, none ever broke, is the "wire ties" that come with them break after a couple of years and recharges with bleach so I had to replace the ties.

They are prone to ladder but I just wrap several layers and tie off the ends.