Designed to outlast traditional filters, HyperMesh offers a durable and sustainable filtration solution for a cleaner aquarium and a greener planet.
The idea for HyperMesh
My day job is as a product manager of a tech company that serve the trades. Primarily the HVAC industry. While at the latest AHR conference in Orlando, I saw many companies showcasing their latest in filtration technology. Now, while every bit of this was for HVAC applications, I did find a vendor who was showing a stainless steel mesh prefilter for outside to inside air exchange. The goal of the prefilter is to protect the finer filter from damage.
The difference was the corrugation!
They had corrugated the stainless steel mesh–much like corrugated cardboard–to increase its stability and surface area.
How does this apply to my fish tank?
That’s a great question–I’m glad you asked!
I’ve used stainless steel mesh cloth for another filter experiment, and it worked well, right up until it clogged. Duh, right? I know.
In addition to corrugating the mesh to increase surface area and stability, I wanted multiple mesh layers in increasing density. I know what you’re thinking, “Greg, they’ll just collapse into each other…” And you’d be right. Each layer is corrugated 90 degrees to the layers around it. BOOM! Problem solved. Onto the next issue!
It turns out that manually currugating stainless steel mesh is non-trivial :/
Fortunately, my father is a mechanical engineer. We had a few lengthy conversations about the forces and frictions involved in forming sheet goods. All very boring to most people. Ultimately, I ended up with what can only be described as a progress rack and roller. It’s very manual. It’s not super easy. But it makes up for it by not looking that great. BUT IT WORKS! I’ll probably write more about this particular process in the future.
So, I ask you…
What do you think of this idea?
What pitfalls do you think you’d run into if you tried this in your aquarium?
What am I missing?
What would you do differently?
