Creative ideas for modular frag racks

urbanrat84 · 08/07/2008, 09:22 PM

Hi all,

I currently have a 48 gallon (4x18x18 or 180L) and a small frag tank. I'm wanting to gradually modify the aquascaping in my 48 gallon with propagation in mind (rather than focussing on the display side of things). It will mainly house the mother colonies but I want to maximise the use of space within the tank.

My idea at the moment involves creating tiered modular shelving out of egg crate and attaching live rock rubble to it so you can't see the crate. Then placing my colonies on them and letting them attach to one module only. Then when I want to prop a particular colony I can just lift it out. I'm planning on keeping things like my gorgonians, xenia and Klyxum on a higher shelf for max light and my morphs on the lowest shelf.

I want it to look very neat. Does anyone have any other creative ideas as to how I could go about doing it?

Need some suggestions on what would be the best kind of support structure for the egg crate shelving, as they need to be able to be lifted out easily but not move around when in the tank. And how should I attach the live rock rubble to the egg crate? Should I use glue or aquaknead it or ties? And how wide should I make each shelf? I also have 3 engineer gobies to take into consideration so will be leaving some larger rock underneath the highest point of the shelving rather than having an open space so they keep their homes.

Want a similar layout to the "Day Care Centre" tank in the Coral Maternity in Portugal thread.

Thanks,

aquatics369 · 08/08/2008, 09:30 AM

As far as how to attach the LR rubble to the crate goes; I would zip tie it. Using the zip ties you could just cut rubble loose when the colony spreads over it and just tie in more rubble. Just my two cents.

urbanrat84 · 08/09/2008, 02:12 AM

Thats a good idea - thank you - I guess I need to make it as easy as possible. So do you drill the rubble? How visible are the zip ties?

craab · 08/10/2008, 12:20 PM

I would not bother attaching the rock to the eggcrate. I would just build a egg crate shelf system and lay my pieces of live rock on each shelf. Attaching them to the egg crate will be a hassle when you want to pull them out to frag.

You might also consider bonding a frag plug to the bottom of each liverock piece and then placing that plug into one of the egg crate squares for a little added stability.

08/07/2008, 09:22 PM	#1
urbanrat84 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 246	Creative ideas for modular frag racks Hi all, I currently have a 48 gallon (4x18x18 or 180L) and a small frag tank. I'm wanting to gradually modify the aquascaping in my 48 gallon with propagation in mind (rather than focussing on the display side of things). It will mainly house the mother colonies but I want to maximise the use of space within the tank. My idea at the moment involves creating tiered modular shelving out of egg crate and attaching live rock rubble to it so you can't see the crate. Then placing my colonies on them and letting them attach to one module only. Then when I want to prop a particular colony I can just lift it out. I'm planning on keeping things like my gorgonians, xenia and Klyxum on a higher shelf for max light and my morphs on the lowest shelf. I want it to look very neat. Does anyone have any other creative ideas as to how I could go about doing it? Need some suggestions on what would be the best kind of support structure for the egg crate shelving, as they need to be able to be lifted out easily but not move around when in the tank. And how should I attach the live rock rubble to the egg crate? Should I use glue or aquaknead it or ties? And how wide should I make each shelf? I also have 3 engineer gobies to take into consideration so will be leaving some larger rock underneath the highest point of the shelving rather than having an open space so they keep their homes. Want a similar layout to the "Day Care Centre" tank in the Coral Maternity in Portugal thread. Thanks, __________________ Megan Current Tank Info: Dedicated BTA tank - been in the hobby since Jan 07

08/09/2008, 02:12 AM	#3
urbanrat84 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 246	Thats a good idea - thank you - I guess I need to make it as easy as possible. So do you drill the rubble? How visible are the zip ties? __________________ Megan Current Tank Info: Dedicated BTA tank - been in the hobby since Jan 07

08/08/2008, 09:30 AM	#2
aquatics369 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 87	As far as how to attach the LR rubble to the crate goes; I would zip tie it. Using the zip ties you could just cut rubble loose when the colony spreads over it and just tie in more rubble. Just my two cents.

08/10/2008, 12:20 PM	#4
craab Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 444	I would not bother attaching the rock to the eggcrate. I would just build a egg crate shelf system and lay my pieces of live rock on each shelf. Attaching them to the egg crate will be a hassle when you want to pull them out to frag. You might also consider bonding a frag plug to the bottom of each liverock piece and then placing that plug into one of the egg crate squares for a little added stability.