Loofah / Body sponge for FF cultures

I use fiberglass screen mesh in mine instead of excelsior. I use a strip about 3 inches wide pressed down into the media so it stays put. Of course the length is shorter than the height of the culture cup.

I use coffee filters.. much cheaper.

I dont use anything. Works for me

deboardfam said:

I use coffee filters.. much cheaper.

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I tried coffee filter but they often collapsed. If you stop by any window repair business, they would be glad to give you as much scrap screen leftovers as you can use. That's how I get mine...I do windows.

Nice... Yeah I usually double them up and fold them in triangles.

I also use the excelsior sometimes but, like coffee filters better.. I may try the screen thing. I think I have some extra laying around in storage.

Starting tomorrow I will be trying easter grass in mine.

Sounds like it'd be too expensive unless you're raising some sort of rare FFs.

I thought of using screens and I decided not to due to a fear of metals or coatings used to protect screens leaching into the fly cultures.

to the OP: What would be the perk to using a loofah in a culture? Is it that you can get them cheap or are they supposed to have some other property making them better than excelsior or coffee filters?

billschwinn said:

I thought of using screens and I decided not to due to a fear of metals or coatings used to protect screens leaching into the fly cultures.

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The standard type screens are fiberglass strands coated in plastic. Fiberglass screen has been used for years in viv construction as the top layer of the false bottom. It has also been used extensively in coral reef tank construction. Obviously you would not want to use old fashioned metal screen mesh.

chinoanoah said:

Does anyone use loofah's in their FF cultures? If so, how?

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I'm a guy........so I don't own a "loofah" or a "body sponge"........can I give this post the award for random question of the week?

Dont hate it till you try it.

chinoanoah said:

Dont hate it till you try it.

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This is true Doug. You get a very satisfying lather.