AC110 Filter Foam

[calioutlaw1a]

I ordered extra foam blocks for my 2 AC110s that I use for pure mechanical filtration, and they just arrived. Unfortunately it looks like they have larger pores than the old sponges making them much less useful for mechanical filtration, and the material used is not the same quality foam as the old sponges. I just read a review on Amazon and it seems the reviewer had the same issue.

I purchased my AC110s about 4 months ago and they both came with the usual quality sponges. Has anyone else recently gotten an AC110 or extra sponge and noticed their sponges are different than normal?

I'll give them a shot, but I really doubt they will do what I want them to do (filter finer particles).
Looks like I'll probably be purchasing custom foam for my AC110s. A couple people have posted a site on here that makes and cuts custom foam, but I can't recall the website. Does anyone know what I'm referring to?
I found this though: http://www.angelsplus.com/FiltersCustom.htm


Pics showing old (top) and new (bottom) AC110 foam. Sorry for the crappy phone pics, but hopefully you can see the difference:

 

[Bderick67]

Was the foam you ordered actually from Aquaclear/Hagan? I bought foam for the AC70 and it is the same quality as comes with the filter.

 

[Ogre One]

Just recently purchased some Poret foam for my ac 50 and ac500. http://www.swisstropicals.com/Poret%20Filter%20Foam%20Pricelist.html
I had a LFS near me that stocked them. there is a list here of suppliers http://www.swisstropicals.com/Poret Foam Customer References.html
The LFS that has it near me has just recently converted his about 80 fish tanks all to this foam. it comes in many ppi.
Picked up 30 ppi for the filters that i also put into my fx5. 10 ppi on top then the 30 ppi below.
Great stuff will be using it in my overflow on my new 110gallon as a pre filter.
Hope there is one near you!!
cheers

 

[calioutlaw1a]

Yes it is the real foam in the AquaClear box. I ordered it from Amazon. I'm considering going to Petsmart/Petco/LFS and opening up some boxes to see if they have any of the old ones. It seems that either I got screwed and someone switched my foam out (which I doubt with Amazon), or AquaClear has recently switched to a cheaper foam insert and there are still some old ones out there.

 

[calioutlaw1a]

Just recently purchased some Poret foam for my ac 50 and ac500. http://www.swisstropicals.com/Poret%20Filter%20Foam%20Pricelist.html
I had a LFS near me that stocked them. there is a list here of suppliers http://www.swisstropicals.com/Poret Foam Customer References.html
The LFS that has it near me has just recently converted his about 80 fish tanks all to this foam. it comes in many ppi.
Picked up 30 ppi for the filters that i also put into my fx5. 10 ppi on top then the 30 ppi below.
Great stuff will be using it in my overflow on my new 110gallon as a pre filter.
Hope there is one near you!!
cheers

I believe that's what I was looking for! Thanks! Just out of curiosity, what foam setup did you go with for your AC500, and how do you like it? Any recommendations?

 

[Ogre One]

Well just got this ac500 two days ago. was just using the old foam that was already seeded with the poret foam over top of it. but decided to change it to just the poret foam which was 30 ppi and i measured it out to be 4 1/2 inches wide by 10 1/2 long by 3 inches so it was a bit bigger than the older foam. had to jam the dam thing in there.
Love to tell you how much i like it but ive only had it for about 2-3 weeks.
SO my setup now is foam bottom then bio max ontop of it. The foam is new and the biomax is new.
hope that helps

 

[calioutlaw1a]

Well just got this ac500 two days ago. was just using the old foam that was already seeded with the poret foam over top of it. but decided to change it to just the poret foam which was 30 ppi and i measured it out to be 4 1/2 inches wide by 10 1/2 long by 3 inches so it was a bit bigger than the older foam. had to jam the dam thing in there.
Love to tell you how much i like it but ive only had it for about 2-3 weeks.
SO my setup now is foam bottom then bio max ontop of it. The foam is new and the biomax is new.
hope that helps

Alright thanks!

 

[smitty03281964]

It does appear that they have changed the foam. I have both in use and have not noticed a difference in filtration. I am only wonder if they last as long.