Sometimes you need to look harder....

I never really liked using a panty hose, since it's too fine and too delicate. It easily can get torn, so you can't really clean it too well. Depending on the shape of your filter intake, you can either use a sponge or cut up a fish net and secure it with a piece of rubber band. I used silicone to wrap around the filter intakes of my Emperor 280 and 400 filters, like this...



The net is nice, since it's made for water and strong enough to clean off using a algae scubbing pad.

blueguppygirl said:

I've heard of people using sponge. (like the ones in an aquaclear filter) Stand it lengthways and cut an X as deeply as you like, but not all the way to the edge. you should be able to slip it over the intake.

Click to expand...

Thank you very very much for this piece of advice. I went ahead and used an AquaClear foam pad to put over the intake of the Aquaclear 50 hang-on I have. I stood the foam pad up length-wise and took a pair of scissors and basically "drilled" a slit/hole right down the top to about halfway into the foam pad. Took a couple of minutes to get it deep enough but I managed to do it perfectly. I cut off the excess foam on the bottom that would not be needed. I also trimmed around the sides of the foam pad in order to make the pad smaller since I have a 10 gallon.

I removed the old mesh thing I had over the intake (the holes were definitely big enough for the shrimplets to get through) and placed the foam pad on. It fit PERFECTLY! Nice and snug, definitely not able to fall off without me having to use some force to pull it off.

I was initially worried about seriously diminishing the water flow by using this pad, but the flow seemed to be almost completely unaffected. I couldn't tell at all in fact if it was slower or not.

This, in my opinion, was the PERFECT solution for many reasons...

#1 the foam pad is extremely pourous and there is no way the a shrimp can get through it and get sucked in due to the "labyrinth" style of the pads' construction.

#2 the water flow is not restricted due to the same "labyrinth" structure because the water is able to navigate through the "foam maze" very easily.

#3 you can easily cut it to fit any type of intake, wide, thin, long, short, etc. All you need is the foam pad and a pair of scissors.

#4 any material trapped on the pad can easily be removed, and the pad is very easy to clean when it gets clogged. I have been using the same pad in the filter itself and have zero problems cleaning it when it gets clogged with mulm and other crap.

#5 the pad is made for filtering, and therefore it is extremely durable and wont disintegrate like panty hose or something similar.

#6 and here is the best part I found... The pad is actually a perfect place for the shrimplets to feed. The porous, labyrinth texture is perfect for the shrimplets to find food and at the same time perfectly safe!

This is a highly recommended method to protect your shrimplets for ANY sized tank, and does not require you to use a sponge filter.

Go to your LFS or corporate death palace (petsmart, petco, etc.) and buy the foam, it is like $2.00 and see for yourself.

Aquaclear Filter Foam Pad



Hope this helps. Thanks again BlueGuppyGirl!!!

-Ryan