thisll prolly sound stupid, but i dont care. has anyone ever thought or tried using Paper towels for mechanical media in a filter?
Heres a filter Media question
- Thread starter joeytoe
- Start date
I'm going to say no.
They would tear apart and would saturate too fast to filter anything. You would have to stuff it full of paper towels to even create enough surface area to catch debris.
But by doing that, you'll create a solid barier that water wont be able to permiate very easily. Since paper towels are too dense when wet.
Try using the stuffing you find inside bed comforters. It's basically just filter floss and is a great mechanical filtration media.
They would tear apart and would saturate too fast to filter anything. You would have to stuff it full of paper towels to even create enough surface area to catch debris.
But by doing that, you'll create a solid barier that water wont be able to permiate very easily. Since paper towels are too dense when wet.
Try using the stuffing you find inside bed comforters. It's basically just filter floss and is a great mechanical filtration media.
Intresting idea.. I think that the paper towel might break down in the flow of water. i would take paper towel and put it in a glass or jar of water and run a bubbler in there and see how the paper towel holds up. If it holds then try it out.
You can pick up the stuffing that die fledermaus at any fabric store, or walmart in the fabric section. Its really really cheap and is basically the same as filter floss.. wouldn't be suprised to find they are the same thing.
You can pick up the stuffing that die fledermaus at any fabric store, or walmart in the fabric section. Its really really cheap and is basically the same as filter floss.. wouldn't be suprised to find they are the same thing.
joeytoe;537691; said:
Not a stupid question but dont seriously consider it. Paper towel is made of a mixture of mechanical and chemical pulp. They also have fungicides and bacteriacides acumulation in them. Long story short, you have no way of knowing exactly what and how much chemistry you are adding to your tank by putting them in your filter.
If your looking for a good cheap and inert filter media go to a craft shop and get some of the non-fire retardant polyester pillow stuffing they sell. This stuff works great and wont rot into your tanks releasing toxins.
Potts050;537908; said:
Used to use formaldehyde too.
If you want a cheap filter media, try some felt it's reuseable and comes in several grades (porosity).
Oh, and big scale trucks used to have oil filters that used whole rolls of toilet paper in the filter (long time ago). I don't think it was charmen tho.
Dr Joe
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