Acrylic as a screen material

[Lemeshianos]

I have trouble in finding plastic screen locally. I checked only and to have a $2 plastic canvas send to me I have to pay $30 in shipping...
My alternative is clear acrylic(the one used to built an aquarium), a plastic mesh like the one used for door screens( i think I read that it's a bad choice and can harm tank critters) and I also read that I can use that green shade cloth that Garden shops have.

I am a bit reluctant on using the garden shade cloth as it is not very sturdy and I don't know how to rough it up without destroying it.

Also some people mention that they use acrylic successfully while others say that you can't rough it up enough to get good algae growth on it.

Any suggestions on what to use, and if acrylic can be used what is the best way to rough it up?

[Ace25]

Curious, where do you live that there isn't a craft store near by? There are 1/2 a dozen in my little town and they all sell the plastic canvas for making ATS screens with, although the first time I went looking I spent a good 1/2 hour walking through the store until I finally spotted them on a bottom shelf tucked away. They only cost 33cents each though.

I can't see how using any type of acrylic would work as good as the screen material. I just can't see how you could rough up acrylic enough to work well. Even a wire wheel on a drill wouldn't do it and that is about the best idea I can think of to rough up acrylic.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4758354392_5bff952f28.jpg

[Rumpy Pumpy]

Any suggestions on what to use, and if acrylic can be used what is the best way to rough it up?


Someone else on here I think recently said they were using acylic. I think he said that he's heated it up and then scratched it somehow.

Personally I'm using a limestone floor tile, I did have a piece of roughed up plastic canvas attached to it but found it was growing better on the tile than the plastic so took it off.

[Rumpy Pumpy]

Here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1274&p=10555&hilit=rough#p10555 (http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1274&p=10555&hilit=rough#p10555)

[Lemeshianos]

Curious, where do you live that there isn't a craft store near by? There are 1/2 a dozen in my little town and they all sell the plastic canvas for making ATS screens with, although the first time I went looking I spent a good 1/2 hour walking through the store until I finally spotted them on a bottom shelf tucked away. They only cost 33cents each though.

I can't see how using any type of acrylic would work as good as the screen material. I just can't see how you could rough up acrylic enough to work well. Even a wire wheel on a drill wouldn't do it and that is about the best idea I can think of to rough up acrylic.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4758354392_5bff952f28.jpg

I live in Cyprus. I have been to a dozen shops here from crafts, to diy, to general store! I cant find the damn thing! All the people i asked said "oh i know this thing" but no one has any idea where they sell it! I would be grateful if i could transfer the money to someone that could buy the stuff for me and ship it to me. But th online shops charge around 30 dollars for shipping which i find ridiculous for a .50 cent item!

If you fit 5 in an envelope could it be send as a letter?

[Ace25]

Ouch.. ya, Cyprus seems like it would be quite a bit to ship to and it isn't like you have a whole lot of options. Now I understand why your looking at alternatives. If you have the patience I guess Acrylic would be the best option since you can get the supplies. I would drill as many holes in it as possible, then put in an oven at low heat to get it soft, then take a wire wheel, screwdriver, knife or something like that to scratch it up. May take a few trips into the oven and several hours of scratching to get it to work but if that is your only realistic option it is better than nothing.

[SantaMonica]

Shade cloth would work.

[Lemeshianos]

Do i need to rough up the shade cloth?
And if yes how would i do that without tearing it up?

[SantaMonica]

I dont' think so, but I've never used it.

Get white or green if you can.

[jnad]

Shade cloth would work.

What is Shade cloth?? I cant find the Norwegian word for this.

Please could you explain some more?

Jnad

[SantaMonica]

It's in the garden department of home improvement stores.

[Murph]

Acrylic sheet is working for me. Like I said in the other post you just heat it with a disposable blow torch you should be able to buy at any hardware store and then rake across it every which way with a hole saw. Might want to use at least eighth inch acrylic as it will deform when you heat it. To get it back into shape when your done roughing it up flip it over and heat the other side and press it back flat again. Mine is one sided but plenty of area for my purposes.

Getting nice green stuff after two cleanings of the brown slimy stuff. Ever notice when you have a scratch in your DT glass that the algae always likes to grow in that scratch and becomes a hassle to clean. Same principal accept on a much deeper and wider scale and exactly what I was hoping would happen for a change.

[maglofster]

I bought mine from the UK (I live in Sweden). And the postage was about 5 dollars. http://www.minervacraftsandfabrics.co.uk/

[Rumpy Pumpy]

Acrylic sheet is working for me.


Can you post some pictures please?

[AntitrustPR]

Shade klut Google translator...