Matt9892 Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 Hey ? Am from the uk.. land have realised that this country seems to make even the simplest job complicated.. I like diy and have constructed various things over the years and I do find that in the uk you seem to struggle to get the basics.. Or finding the people with the knowledge to Match.. I mean if I said to someone that I wanted 45ppi reticulated foam.. The dumbfounded look on their face is funny..lol anyway it all started when I wanted shrimp.. We did try before once and well it was a massacre ? But I had seen some pictures online of them living happily with plecos.. And since when we got another tank for plecos I thought I would try again.. They went into the tank and lived quite happily (I had 4) but well then plecos being plecos they had lots of offspring like 40+ in the first spawning.. So the tank was dirty a lot.. So not suitable.. So another tank was purchased for them.. It came with a fluval u2 which was fine.. They were sorted in there for a while but as I did more and more research the idea of a hmf filter sounded good, the more I read I decided on a corner hmf as these seem to look better and be more stable (support theirselfs easier ect). so much like most people I went to swisstropicals and asked them how much it would cost for the sponge and glass pieces.. These would cost around £25 I think it worked out so figured cool.. But then I asked about postage to the uk and it was like £25-£30... So £60 to get a piece of sponge and some glass.. I was quite shocked to say the least. And this did not include a jetlifter... So I went to my local pet shops (and some not so local) asking about 45ppi reticulated foam ect.. And well as I said earlier they had no clue.. So I began to search the Internet.. I couldn't find any 45ppi foam on eBay (that was also 2" thick) so went searching.... Long story short I found Thefoamshop.co.uk and after some chatting to the person in charge (and seeing the foam wasn't fungus or fire resist) it seemed about right.. I wanted black originally but had to settle for blue because it's all I could find on the site.. But anyway I got 2x bits of foam for £9 plus £10 p+p after this I started ringing around about the glass.. I say ringing around there are only 2 glass places anywhere near me.. And after 1 said they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't be chipped ect I went with the other..lol so got 2 bits of glass stripping 8cm thick for £8 (after some negotiating) lol.. So once I had finally gathered all this I started looking for a powerhead to run my hmf.. So again after looking around the stores and even online for a 150l/h pump (hmf pumps for shrimp only usually 2-2.5x the tank per hour) which was next to impossible to find.. So after about a week of that without much luck I started looking into lifters.. I decided on a jetlifter because it wouldn't have the airstone in it to become clogged. so I managed to find an air pump on eBay cheap again about £8.. Although in hind sight I should have bought a double..lol then I went about making a jetlifter.. I took some 15mm plumbing tube and got a 15-22mm adapted.. Then with alittle cutting I managed to cut out the centre and then put a hole in it for the pump fitting.. Then it was just a matter of popping a lot of holes in the uptube and I was relatively finished.. Just the siliconing ect.. Just marked out 6" from the edge.. Marked each side.. Added masking and siliconed the glass on... Cut the sponge to size so it could be squished and fitted.. Then I popped a hole for the jetlifter (people usually cut a valley) I preferred the hole because although harder to remove it would hopefully fit snugger and stop babies getting around it..like some people have complained about that I have read. Anyway.. That was my "adventure" after this a beer and paracetamol was in order..lol but it's done and well I loves it.. It's a lot better (in my opinion) that the regular hos filters.. And in theory only has to be cleaned once every year or so... We shall see.. If this is in the wrong section please feel free to move it ? Hope this helps someone Matt ps. I will try to post some pictures when I can take some. svetilda and Shrimple minded 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vpier Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 I'm surprised you had a hard time finding what you need. The Germans came up with the HMF. I figured everyone in the EU knows about the HMF. Did you try finding any German websites selling HMF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oem Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 Welcome Matt. I too am a DIY/Tinkerer as well and like to hear others adventures. Sometimes the time involved and headaches make it seem that I really should have spent the money upfront. Still I do it time and time again. In your case with limited options there was no choice. Looking forward to more. ,,,,Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 I love you even put a link in to help others around you! Have you thought about copying this post and then putting it in the DIY section with pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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