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Chad
07-27-2004, 06:49 AM
Ok,

I have tried to find the smallest wooden air difuser to fit my crapclone skimmer. But the smallest I can find is made by Lee's, even then I have to chop it up to make it fit where I want it.

The Question:

Has anyone ever made their own wooden air difuser? Is it as simple as getting some basal wood and drilling a hole in the middle?

any help would be apppreciated.

Thanks

EmilyB
07-27-2004, 08:27 AM
You need the stubby stone, or the ceramic ones. I have to go get some more soon, but off hand I don't know who makes them.

dbdavid
07-27-2004, 02:07 PM
Hi, here is a link to a DIY wooden air stone. He uses Basswood. I have seen Basswood at Michael's (a craft place) in Edmonton.

http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/kwairstone.htm

I would just cut the Basswood to size and drill it most of the way through, and glue a short piece of rigid airline tubing to it. Remember that the air only comes out of the sides with the grain open.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Chad
07-27-2004, 03:23 PM
You need the stubby stone, or the ceramic ones. I have to go get some more soon, but off hand I don't know who makes them.

I was under the impression that these ones don't give you the fine bubbles as the wooden air difusers do? Are the ceramics better?

Chad
07-27-2004, 03:24 PM
http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/kwairstone.htm

I would just cut the Basswood to size and drill it most of the way through, and glue a short piece of rigid airline tubing to it. Remember that the air only comes out of the sides with the grain open.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Thanks Dave..

Actualy I remeber seeing this link before but could not find it. I will see if I can find some of this wood around here. Someone must carry it.

Scavenger
07-27-2004, 05:17 PM
Coralife makes a pretty short stone I have one and it's 1" x .75" x.75"
Would that fit?

BMW Rider
07-27-2004, 07:13 PM
I'm going to be making my own air stones from now on. I went and bought a piece of 4/4 basswood, 8" x 12" for the princely sum of $4.00. I figure I can make at least 32 airstones form that one piece. The ones I've been buying are $5.99 for two. At that price with GST added on top, I should save $98.55. Seems like a good deal to me.

You should be able to find basswood available at a wood dealer. I bought mine from Blackforrest Wood here in Calgary. Basswood is commonly used by carvers due to its fine grain. It should be readily available in most major centers. I would guess that the craft store is selling it for significantly more than a wood store would, but it is still probably less expensive than buying premade stones.

Chad
07-27-2004, 08:26 PM
Anyone in the lower mainland have any clue where to find this stuff? I've checked a few places but they have no clue what I am talking about :confused:

Thanks..

BMW Rider, how do you cut yours? In blocks or some other way?

BMW Rider
07-27-2004, 11:31 PM
I plan to cut them into blocks that are approximately 3/4" x 3/4" x 3". That is approximatly the size of the ones I've been buying, and they seem to produce a decent amount of foam for my DIY skimmer. I am planning to build a Beckett skimmer for my reef tank, and this one will go on my FO tank when I get it running. It is just not big enough for the reef.

EmilyB
07-28-2004, 12:33 AM
I was under the impression that these ones don't give you the fine bubbles as the wooden air difusers do? Are the ceramics better?

They make three bubble sizes in the ceramic stones. Only one place around here carries them, but I found they were pretty good, yeah.

Or the coralife stubby stone.

kari
07-29-2004, 04:04 AM
Use a dust mask when cutting bass wood. I find the dust is very fine and blows around everywhere when cutting it (much worse then mdf.) I used to cut my own about 8 years ago and if I remember right I used a nylon air line fitting that was male thread on the diffuser end and barb for air line. One can simply thread the fitting into a drilled hole in the wood since its fairly soft.