home made air "stone"

Hey guys, I just thought I would share this as it is something I "Mcgiver'd? up tonight . I ran out of air stones but I really needed something to move water around and put more air into my res then just the air hose... So what I did was take an old pill bottle... just the screw on type... like for Tylenol or Advil and I took my Xacto knife( you can use a needle too) and I poked many many small holes in it.. now make sure you don't push the needle all the way through. Just the very tip just enough to get the VERY tip of the needle all the way through the plastic... if you go all the way through, the holes will be too big and it wont disperse the air throughout all of the holes. Now drill a hole in the cap, make sure that the hole is about 3/4 the size of the OD(outer diameter) of the air line. find a way to get the hose through and then you should be just fine... now it will float a lot more than an air stone so you have to find a way to anchor it down.

now... if you drill the hole a lil too big and your hose keeps slipping right back out then you can take a paper clip... and snip off a piece that is about a 1/2 long... and stick it through the air hose on the inside part of the lid. The paper clip part going through the line is not enough to make a difference on the amount of air that you get and is just what you need to keep the hose from coming out of the bottle... I hope that this makes sense and helps someone... the way that I figure it... if it helps one person other than myself... then it was a complete success...

Mods- if this was posted in the wrong place please move it to the correct location :) thanks

I can understand the process and all and looks like a great thing to put together in an emergency but I think I'll stick with $1.99 at Walmart. :thumbsup:

you could probably put some fish tank stones in the pill bottle, that would hold it down, and it wouldnt restrict the flow of air.

yea I agree that the air stones are the way to go but I managed to make one last night from a GNC bottle and it gives out more bubbles and covers a larger aread than my 6"x1" flat stone... i get amused by the easy creations that I can think of :):D

I've actually been working on creating a non-cloggable airstone that should last you a very long time. Though it won't be a stone.

Still trying to source someone that can make what I need to make this a reality.

Love the idea, though. I've strapped an air line inside of a sponge to act as an air diffuser before, worked well until the roots got into the sponge!