huge mesh bags with carbon

Petco here has pretty decent sized bags for like $3 but I usually buy pantyhose and fill them. Doubling the panty hose up will help them be less likely to split when you go to remove them

Best place to get the big fine mesh bags is a paint store, Duron, Sherwin Williams has nice 1 gallon and 5 gallon ones some have a draw string, but if they don't a rubber band works great. Good bulk carbon from BRS is very reasonable.

May be able to get big paint strainer bags at a local hardware store as well?

Thanks guys.

One thing to be careful of with mesh bags from a paint store is be mindful of the tightness of the mesh. You want pretty good water flow through the bag and some of the paint bags are woven tightly. Also, make sure you rinse the bags well before introducing them into your tank.

So should I go with the panty hose?

If you want, but the paint strainers are a lot cheaper and pretty easy to get. Zoa has a great point that I forgot to mention about density, but the nylon ones that I use from Duron are perfect and super cheap. Here is a pic of the 1 gallon ones that I use, it's on the top of a 5 gallon bucket for size reference. They work great for carbon, also for rinsing sand/gravel.

These are the same thing they use for the smaller ones sold for aquarium use.

Thanks Joe