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sweetwater stones

Discussion in 'General Plant Topics' started by Cornhusker, Jan 11, 2006.

  1. Cornhusker

    Cornhusker Guru Class Expert

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    tom, the sweetwater stones you have been using,are they suppose to have very fine bubbles like those coming from a eheim or the zoo-med diffusers?i've tried these using 20lbs of co2 and can only get a few larger bubbles at stem end.also connected to air pump and bubbles are about the same as most stones,large. am i doing something wrong? i'm soaking some right now in water to see if that will help.regards,cornhusker :) :)
     
    #1 Cornhusker, Jan 11, 2006
  2. Tom Barr

    Tom Barr Founder
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    #2 Tom Barr, Jan 11, 2006
  3. VaughnH

    VaughnH Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: sweetwater stones

    I ordered 4 of the stones, from the page you recommended before, and mine too are a disappointment. I get large bubbles - maybe .25 mm in diameter, which largely rise and dissipate at the water surface. This post is the first I have seen about "fine pore" stones. I think you goofed before!! The discussion in their website catalog about the regular stones leads you to believe that those produce the finest bubbles that can be done, so I didn't try to find anything in their catalog mentioning still finer bubbles. Drat!
     
    #3 VaughnH, Jan 11, 2006
  4. Tom Wood

    Tom Wood Guru Class Expert

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    Re: sweetwater stones

    Should be these:

    [​IMG]
     
    #4 Tom Wood, Jan 11, 2006
  5. Tom Barr

    Tom Barr Founder
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    Re: sweetwater stones

    Those are them.
    the largest bubbles I have coming out of two of these is about the size if a 12 font peroid " . "
    They float around and get pushed all over.

    I have 6 Azoo diffusers, some produce smaller bubbles, some produce larger bubbles even!

    I have 3 other diffuser brands also, same thing, the ADa diffusers also have some rather larger bubbles, the Red Sea diffuser 200 => junk.

    Several LFS's here in SF Bay have these(not the SW stones) and use them, so we have their feed back as well.

    Other folks have used the limewood stones they use for skimmers.

    Hopefully in the next year or so, someone will come up with a nice super fine mist making method that's cheap and consistent.

    Regards,
    Tom Barr
     
    #5 Tom Barr, Jan 11, 2006
  6. VaughnH

    VaughnH Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: sweetwater stones

    Those look just like the ones I got, and they definitely are not the "fine pore" stones. Maybe I should offer the remaining three for sale as "sweetwater stones", and hope no one else knows there are two kinds. (heh, heh)
     
    #6 VaughnH, Jan 11, 2006
  7. Cornhusker

    Cornhusker Guru Class Expert

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    Re: sweetwater stones

    I contacted aquatic eco-systems and they have a small order charge of $5.oo,plus over $10..00 shipping for six stones.i happen to be ordering from F&S and saw in their catalog what looked like the same as sweetwater stones.so i asked what vender they received these stones.they indicated from aquatic eco-systems.so i presumed they were the same thing.price,$1.69 each.now it could be that more than one kind is made,but these sure look like the ones on the AES website.who knows! regards,cornhusker :) :)
     
    #7 Cornhusker, Jan 11, 2006
  8. wapfish

    wapfish Prolific Poster

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    Re: sweetwater stones

    A couple weeks back I thought I'd give the mist method a shot and ordered several Sweetwater stones from AES. I only tried one of them, but it certainly didn't produce a mist of tiny bubbles the size of a period. Most were rather large (though probably smaller than a regular airstone), and floated rapidly to the surface even when placed in front of a vertical spraybar. Overall, it sounds pretty much the same as Cornhusker described.

    I double checked the order receipt and what I ordered was AS10 = Fine-Pore Diffusers for Ozone and Pure Oxygen, 3/16" OD, ABS, 1.5" x .5". They look just like TW's picture.

    The main thing that got me was the increase in CO2 expenditure required to get any sort of "mist" going. Normally I run about a bubble a second through my canister, but with the SW stone I had to crank the flow up until bubbles were just ripping through the counter. I never did let it all stabilize so I really don't know where the flow rate would have ended up when the pH was set. I just packed it in and went back to my original setup.

    Is it possible we're doing something wrong? Normally, I've got the pressure regulator set to around 12-15 lb and the needle valve nearly closed in order to achieve 1 bubble/sec. With the SW stone, the regulator was the same but I opened the needle valve quite a lot.
     
    #8 wapfish, Jan 11, 2006
  9. Tom Wood

    Tom Wood Guru Class Expert

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    Re: sweetwater stones

    When I had mine going, the regulator was set in the 40psi range. They seemed to do better with the higher pressure. I got the small bubbles except where the stone touched anything, like the side of the tank or the substrate, there it was one big bubble.

    BTW, that's not my picture, it's linked to another post here somewhere. But that's what my stones look like too. I've since switched to the Rio bubble-chopper powerhead.

    TW
     
    #9 Tom Wood, Jan 11, 2006
  10. reiverix

    reiverix Lifetime Members
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    Re: sweetwater stones

    The pic with the rulers is a pic I took of mine when they came in. Still haven't run them.

    I just took these pictures of me blowing air through one of them with my weak lungs.

    Blowing a little and then a lot.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Is this a fine mist? I suppose it might depend on the pressure you are running. It is finer with less pressure but when you blow through it you can get the bubbles just as big as any airstone. In order to get the small bubbles I had to blow just enough to leak some bubbles out, one or two tiny streamers. Any more pressure than that and it's normal bubbles.

    It looks like a normal airstone to me.
     
    #10 reiverix, Jan 11, 2006
  11. Cornhusker

    Cornhusker Guru Class Expert

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    Re: sweetwater stones

    Random alias,just curious,would that happen to be christmas moss? regards,cornhusker :) :)
     
    #11 Cornhusker, Jan 12, 2006
  12. reiverix

    reiverix Lifetime Members
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    Re: sweetwater stones

    I bought it on aquabid labeled as mini moss. It came from singapore. Lotta stamps on the envelope.

    It had thicker, more triangular growth in my Co2 tank. In this excel nano it looks longer because the strands aren't as thick.
     
    #12 reiverix, Jan 12, 2006
  13. srozell

    srozell Guru Class Expert

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    Re: sweetwater stones


    I just ordered a bunch o' them fine pore sweatwater stones. I hope they ARE the fine ones. I also hope they work better than my red sea diffusers :(
     
    #13 srozell, Jan 13, 2006
  14. Tom Barr

    Tom Barr Founder
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    Re: sweetwater stones

    They do work better than the Red Sea diffusers based on my experieces.
    They are more consistent over time from what I've seen thus far.
    I've had to mokey with the RedSea the most, less with Azoo.


    Regards,
    Tom Barr
     
    #14 Tom Barr, Jan 13, 2006
  15. srozell

    srozell Guru Class Expert

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    Re: sweetwater stones

    Good to know, Thank you.
     
    #15 srozell, Jan 13, 2006
  16. VaughnH

    VaughnH Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: sweetwater stones

    I have been using an Eheim diffuser that I got from Dave Gomberg (http://www.wcf.com/co2iron/). Now that I had my disappointment with the Sweetwater stones I find I really appreciate the Eheim diffuser, and Dave has a very good deal on them. This diffuser is a glass disk type, that produces fine mist, has a built in bubble counter, a check valve, two sizes of tubing and an adapter to connect the two together (the Eheim diffuser uses very small diameter tubing compared to what is normal for connecting a regulator output.)
     
    #16 VaughnH, Jan 13, 2006
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