What brand of Poret type material do you all recommend? Or does Poret refer to a particular brand, such as Swiss tropicals?
Poret Decay
- Thread starter Midwater
- Start date
They were at the Ohio Cichlid Extravaganza 2 times I went and I personally talked to the guy and was impressed. Although I don't have Matten Filters I would definitely buy from them based on being a reputable company.
I believe Swiss Tropicals, has a patten on the" true" Porret Foam formula, but have distributors everywhere.
I ordered mine thru them (Swiss Tropicals).
Poret® Foam Shop - SWISSTROPICALSSwissTropicalshttp://www.swisstropicals.com › Filtration shop
I ordered mine thru them (Swiss Tropicals).
Poret® Foam Shop - SWISSTROPICALSSwissTropicalshttp://www.swisstropicals.com › Filtration shop
My original Poret foam purchases were all made through Swiss Tropicals as well, after a friend sold me on the quality of the stuff. Since moving to this province, I have bought it from a Winnipeg-area importer/wholesaler/retailer (AFishionados) and the new stuff seems to be identical. Buying it locally works out much cheaper, since importing it from the U.S. entails paying the currency exchange rate, expensive shipping (it's light but bulky), and (depending upon the mood of the customs inspectors) sometimes also duty. I bought a few chunks in 2012, just after moving here, and at this point I literally can't distinguish which pieces originated where.
Thought I'd share these pics. These poret pieces were cut to size for my aquaclear 110s. 4 x 2 x 10 each. About 6-7 months ago they were brick shaped. One has stayed pretty intact, one is compressed a bit with a bit of crumbling. The worst piece you see has large open cell areas and is chunking off with a gouged out line. This is the 20ppi. I wonder if the higher ppi has this issue, maybe someone can chime in. These pics were taken today after cleaning and water change of the 225. I just soak in warm to hot water, rinse and squeeze.
I've bought all my Poret foam directly from Swiss Tropicals also and AFAIK he is the only North American distributor for retail or wholesale. It is possible that he sold to brick and mortar businesses that buy directly from him.
FINWIN
, those pics you just posted do not look like legitimate Poret foam to me as they look to coarse and 'webby' looking.
I know of a local to me LFS that is selling foam media that he claims is as good as Poret but the quality and feel of it is completely different and it does not hold up well to rinsing and gets crumbly within a year of use.
I've been using the same Poret foam I bought for over 10 years in both power and canister filters as well as the HMF style filters and it looks as good as the day I bought it minus any algae that formed on the HMF portion that is above the water line.
FINWIN
, those pics you just posted do not look like legitimate Poret foam to me as they look to coarse and 'webby' looking.I know of a local to me LFS that is selling foam media that he claims is as good as Poret but the quality and feel of it is completely different and it does not hold up well to rinsing and gets crumbly within a year of use.
I've been using the same Poret foam I bought for over 10 years in both power and canister filters as well as the HMF style filters and it looks as good as the day I bought it minus any algae that formed on the HMF portion that is above the water line.
I agree with
D
deeda
about that foam; it just looks odd to me. The two "good" pieces are still very limp and "soggy" looking, with no sharply-defined edges and straight lines as I would expect from genuine Poret. A years-old piece of real Poret still does not get that mushy appearance...but the many cheap foams I have used over the years have all deteriorated exactly as the pieces in
FINWIN
's pics show.
My local guy is very reliable and when he states that he is selling real Poret I don't doubt him. The last time I visited the Swiss Tropicals site I seem to recall some mention made of wholesale as well as retail, so there are likely numerous retailers selling the stuff. It's pretty expensive as foam goes, so likely a lot of retailers don't want to carry it. I know when I first saw the price of it I just laughed; it took the recommendation of a close friend to get me to try it, and it took several years of seeing its durability to seal the deal.
FINWIN
's pics show.My local guy is very reliable and when he states that he is selling real Poret I don't doubt him. The last time I visited the Swiss Tropicals site I seem to recall some mention made of wholesale as well as retail, so there are likely numerous retailers selling the stuff. It's pretty expensive as foam goes, so likely a lot of retailers don't want to carry it. I know when I first saw the price of it I just laughed; it took the recommendation of a close friend to get me to try it, and it took several years of seeing its durability to seal the deal.
Had no idea the distributor was so specific!
Does anyone have a pic of fresh poret, the real stuff? At first I thought it was because of the 20ppi having more open cells. And you're right
jjohnwm
, these pieces are floppy...I have to press them into the aquaclear chambers. When the foam was new it was very stiff and easy to cut. Smaller pieces seem to hold up better. I even experimented with cutting it into cubes but it got too annoying to clean that way.
I'm assuming the real poret has the 20, 30, and 45 ppi?
How expensivev is it? I've already ordered more of this 'faux' stuff so I'll just beat it up first.
Something else, too...the color degrades as well. These were bright cobalt blue when I got the foam. Even clean the color now is much darker.
Does anyone have a pic of fresh poret, the real stuff? At first I thought it was because of the 20ppi having more open cells. And you're right
jjohnwm
, these pieces are floppy...I have to press them into the aquaclear chambers. When the foam was new it was very stiff and easy to cut. Smaller pieces seem to hold up better. I even experimented with cutting it into cubes but it got too annoying to clean that way.I'm assuming the real poret has the 20, 30, and 45 ppi?
How expensivev is it? I've already ordered more of this 'faux' stuff so I'll just beat it up first.
Something else, too...the color degrades as well. These were bright cobalt blue when I got the foam. Even clean the color now is much darker.
This is the uncut piece, the day it arrived in the mail, a little too large to be friction fit in the height and width of a standard 125.
Below ready to be trimmed to fi, and trimmed a little while later.
