Reef nutrition

Wooden Airstones: Anyone know how to clean 'em?

Ok, so I'm too cheap to buy a new skimmer in place of the stock wooden airstone one that came with my JBJ nano. But it's getting a little pricey having to replace 'em every few weeks. So I was wondering if anyone knows how to clean 'em so they're good as new. I've seen hydrogen peroxide mentioned to clean ceramic airstones. Will this work, and are there any other alternatives?
 
um...anything I could think of can either fill pores (counter productive) or make larger pores (counter productive). It's hard because the "stone" is organic. WHy not just buy a new one? That's what a lot of people do with wooden ones (disposable).
 
They should not be clogging every few weeks. Normally you should get a couple months. Try another brand of wooden airstones. I've had Coralife ones last for 3 months.

One thing you can do is scrape the outside rotten would down a little. Don't use any chemicals as it's organic and it'll break down much faster then.
 
The one's I'm using are the JBJ ones, which sell for $15 a pair at MD. I tried using the cheaper Lee's brand; however, the pocket for the airstone is too small.

It seems like I go through one every month. I just thought I could keep my costs down if there was some way to clean 'em out.
 
if you do scrape, do so while the stone is pressurized by the air pump and rinse well after scrapping (while pressurized). This will help keep active pores from clogging with scrapping material.
 
Ceramic doesn't cut it. You won't get a fine enough bubble and they clog with carbonates pretty dang fast. We use those very ones at our facility and monthly, in our low CA/ALK/MG systems, we still have to soak them in acid for a day to recover them. At NSW levels those would clog in a month.
 
I've had the same experience with the Coralife stones as Gresham, and I hate saying good things about PGS products, the Sander's aren't half bad either. The Lee's and Red Sea don't last very long at all, and tend to get mushy and crumble VERY fast IME.

IME if you under drive the stone it leads to rot, if you blast them with prefiltered air they seem to last a little longer. Of course you have to factor cost of stone replacement into the equation when deciding whether or not to purchase a skimmer, air driven skimmers cost money to run. That said, they tend to outperform conventional small skimmers due to the crazy small bubble size.
 
Don't waste your time tryig to clean them, make new ones! You can buy basswood at almost any decent hobby shop dirt cheap. I found a block about 2" x 4" x 12" for roughly $5. I mark out the top to the size stones I wanted, drilled the holes to fit the screw in fittings from the Coralife wooden airstones, and then cut them out using a band saw. I made enough to to do a years worth at weekly relacements for about $10 ( $5 of that being the cost of the 2 pack from Coralife to get the screw in fitting).

I looked all over for Limewood with no luck, after some searching I found out Limewood and Basswood are the same thing (US- Basswood, UK-Limewood)
 
GreshamH said:
We use those very ones at our facility and monthly, in our low CA/ALK/MG systems, we still have to soak them in acid for a day to recover them. At NSW levels those would clog in a month.

Are you talking about the Sweetwater airstones that Mr. Ugly linked? Those look easier on the wallet since they can be cleaned. I was thinking of buying two to have a back-up while the other is being cleaned.

If I don't decide to go that route, is there a LFS in the SF/Peninsula area that carries the Coralife airstones?
 
Psychographic said:
Don't waste your time tryig to clean them, make new ones! You can buy basswood at almost any decent hobby shop dirt cheap. I found a block about 2" x 4" x 12" for roughly $5. I mark out the top to the size stones I wanted, drilled the holes to fit the screw in fittings from the Coralife wooden airstones, and then cut them out using a band saw. I made enough to to do a years worth at weekly relacements for about $10 ( $5 of that being the cost of the 2 pack from Coralife to get the screw in fitting).

I looked all over for Limewood with no luck, after some searching I found out Limewood and Basswood are the same thing (US- Basswood, UK-Limewood)

Nice first post!
Welcome.
Good advice also.
 
Otakuthugster said:
GreshamH said:
We use those very ones at our facility and monthly, in our low CA/ALK/MG systems, we still have to soak them in acid for a day to recover them. At NSW levels those would clog in a month.

Are you talking about the Sweetwater airstones that Mr. Ugly linked? Those look easier on the wallet since they can be cleaned. I was thinking of buying two to have a back-up while the other is being cleaned.

If I don't decide to go that route, is there a LFS in the SF/Peninsula area that carries the Coralife airstones?

Yes I am talking about the ceramic Sweetwater ones. The pores are not small enough for a small skimmer. A large skimmer pushing a lot of air, no problem.
 
Psychographic said:
Don't waste your time tryig to clean them, make new ones! You can buy basswood at almost any decent hobby shop dirt cheap. I found a block about 2" x 4" x 12" for roughly $5. I mark out the top to the size stones I wanted, drilled the holes to fit the screw in fittings from the Coralife wooden airstones, and then cut them out using a band saw. I made enough to to do a years worth at weekly relacements for about $10 ( $5 of that being the cost of the 2 pack from Coralife to get the screw in fitting).

I looked all over for Limewood with no luck, after some searching I found out Limewood and Basswood are the same thing (US- Basswood, UK-Limewood)

A friend of mine has a 100' of actual tree sitting at his house just waiting to be made into airstones :) Too bad he no longer has a reef.
 
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