5 replies to this topic

[alwayslearning]

How are you doing? I hope you are having a great Monday!

 

Lately, I have been thinking about moving from cotton to those "blue sponges" that several of you have in your test tubes.

 

I found an article in AliExpress: https://www.aliexpre...0021943745311"}

 

Did you buy stoppers from them? If so, are you satisfied?

 

Also, please, I will appreciate advice if you have had bad situations using these blue sponges. 

 

In my humble and short experience, they handle the water (and particularly bubbles, for us, the newbies) in a better way. But I'm open to your knowledge.

 

Thanks! 

[Manitobant]

I'm personally not a fan of cheap chinese ant products, but I’ve heard that the blue sponges work quite well, especially for destructive cotton chewing species like camponotus or parasitic formica.

[PetsNotPests]

The "blue things" are PVA sponges. I would recomend buying them from Cocdeshijie, you can get them in bulk for a lot cheaper. I bet shipping is a lot cheaper as well. 

[alwayslearning]

The "blue things" are PVA sponges. I would recomend buying them from Cocdeshijie, you can get them in bulk for a lot cheaper. I bet shipping is a lot cheaper as well. 

 

I tried several times... But, each time, he is out of stock for 20mm

But I think these are the same he sells, no? Or close enough.

Thanks for your advice. 

[alwayslearning]

I'm personally not a fan of cheap chinese ant products, but I’ve heard that the blue sponges work quite well, especially for destructive cotton chewing species like camponotus or parasitic formica.

 

Me neither! At the beginning, as a good newbie, I got excited and ended buying formicarium that they looked good but didn't work as expected.

And yes, I'm having that problem with several camponotus eating the cotton.

 

An unrelated question, do you have a store or place that you prefer at the time of buying formicarium? It'd not hurt to know your opinion.

Thanks a lot

[Max_Connor]

These are basically nano-sponges that some sponge mops are made of. You can cut many sponge plugs from one.
They generally go moldy way less often than common cotton plugs do, and they are somewhat easier to operate, floods are less likely if the sponge fits well.
I don't know why you would order such simple things from a special shop, many keepers in Russia just find some sponge material at a hardware store

Edited by Max_Connor, October 20 2021 - 10:38 PM.