Turbo submitted a new resource: Screen & Fasteners - The ideal growth substrate material, and how to keep it in place Read more about this resource...
Turbo updated Screen & Fasteners with a new update entry: Mortar Screen method added Read the rest of this update entry...
I installed my mortar screen today. Here's my last screen cleaning, using the original screen (in use for probably 2+ years, I would have to look back to see when I actually put it into use) So it's not like that wasn't working well.... Here's the new screen I shot a bunch of video while I was making this screen (made 4 actually) and I"ll be throwing that up on YouTube soon. Basically, I roughed up the screen initially with my stage 1 process as usual, which is a wire brush drill attachment. This preps the screen to better accept the mortar, otherwise, it slides off really easily. I taped off the top edge of the screen (that gets inserted into the slot) plus the next 2 rows prior to the stage 1 rough-up, then I took that off and cut the screen down to it's final size. Then, I added the tape back to protect the top edge from mortar. I slathered on the mortar really thick, like 1/4" all over the screen, then flipped it and "massaged" it so that it pushed up through the other side, making sure to coat the entire screen. Then I used a toothbrush and squeegeed off the bulk of the mortar, which left the holes filled in but the screen pattern showing. After that, I held it over a garbage can and used the toothbrush to swipe the loose mortar off the screen, flipped the screen and brushed more, and repeated that about a half dozen times. The result was what you see in the pics above: the mortar and the fine particles of the mix were stuck to the screen, with only a small percentage of the holes filled in. Most of the sandy/grainy particles got brushed away. Next, I sandwiched this between 2 pieces of wax paper, put it in a container (sterilite bin) and placed a wet hand towel on it. I let it cure for 2 days, spritzing it with water once or twice/day. I was surprised that the mortar was very flexible and not at all brittle by this point. I expected to hear crackling when I bent the screen, but it flexed right with the screen. I placed the screen in a 5g bucket with RODI and changed that water after 4-5 days. Soaked a total of 7 days, then swished it in the bucket (not much came off) and then ran it under tap water and scrubbed it a bit with a toothbrush. I thought a good amount of mortar would come loose when I did that, but it's really stuck on there like glue, hardly any came off at all. I put it in the scrubber, but I had to remove my false bottom because I forgot about a dimensional difference. All in all, I'm impressed with how easy this was. Way better than roughing up the screen with a saw blade!
Time for an update on my Mortar Screen. The quick answer: do it. Day 0 - 12/8 Day 1 - 12/9 Day 2 - 12/10 At this point, I switched the timer from 24/7 operation to 1 hour on, 1 hour off, all day long. Day 3 - 12/11 Day 4 - 12/12 Day 5 - 12/13 Day 7 - 12/15 Day 9 - 12/17 At this point, I flipped the timer back to 24/7 operation Day 12 - 12/20 here's what it looked like in the box on 12/20 This one runs top-of-tank so I have a drain restrictor on the outlet to keep bubbles out of the tank, so the box fills up as the screen fills in. Basically the drain is under-balanced so this is what happens, but it works, I just have to keep an eye on it and dial back the flow usually by day 6 or 7, but since this was a brand new screen, it took a bit longer. It's now day 15 and I don't want to take the screen out and take a pic, I will give it a first cleaning tonight. The net result here is 15 days to a full green screen, and it's firmly attached because when I pulled out the screen on 12/20, the algae that was in the box (on the false bottom) pulled off, but it didn't detach from the screen itself. After I place the screen back in and fired up the water, there was no algae that broke free and flowed into the tank. Huge success
