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A_Lee

A_Lee

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I am considering making a small frag rack to put in to my display tank to accommodate some plugs, so I can keep them off my rock work.
Previously I have used Mag-Floats with egg-crate, with success -the only issue is that it looks pretty distasteful IMO, and would like to go a route that looks cleaner. Getting the egg-crate is not an issue, but some questions about magnets:
1. If I go out and purchase magnets to hold my frag rack up, do I need to consider certain 'reef-safe" magnets? Or will any magnet do?
2. If you have a link to eBay or someplace that sells something that will suit my needs, that would be great; or any suggestions as to where I may start looking?

Thanks!
 
use a neo magnet and coat it in epoxy...or get an epoxy coated magnet :)
http://www.gaussboys.com/magnets/Epoxy-Coated-Magnets/
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=164
 
Hey anthony, I'd be interested in picking a few of these up myself. We can go in together and save on shipping if you'd like. G-chat me if your down
 
Jay,
I'm almost tempted to just order a Mag-Rack:
http://www.blackrockreef.com/products-3.html
It is a little costly, but I was thinking about it, and I'm not sure I do a job much cleaner then that ... contemplating ordering one of the racks in the link. This rack will be going into my display tank (BTW, am I the only one that would be doing this?) so I want it to look as decent as possible ... my last DIY rack was pretty hurt. What do you think?
 
I plan on putting a small one in my display tank. I'm pretty sure Phong and Sergio have some in their tanks as well.

The magracks are sweet, but like you said pricey, for the price of one medium rack you could buy a whole sheet of black eggcrate, add a couple bucks more and you have the magnets. I'd like to give it a try myself as I like having little projects to work on. Let me know what you decide to do, I have the weld-on, dremel, and any other tools we might need to make them should you go that route.

On that note, how big of a magnet would hold something like 10 plugs? Any suggestions on what size magnets to use?
 
Hm, so in regards to actually making one of these frag racks; I'd imagine the process would be something similar to ...

1. Cut out the appropriate sized piece of egg crate
2. Use weld-on to attach the magnets to do the egg crate
haha, that would be about it, wouldn't it?

Good to know you have the supplies -let's go in on an order of those magnets Jay! We can make 'em at my place, or yours, either works. I can make the racks to my desirable dimensions too, which is a plus! When it comes down to it, one of our DIY racks would probably equate to about half the price of the ones linked above :)

This may sound kind of crazy, but I want to make two frag racks that are only two squares wide, and about 10-12 squares long. This would only accommodate about 5-6 plugs each, but I wouldn't have to worry about the racks over-shading anything significantly. Plus, I won't be keeping a large amount of plugs like many others do :p

Also, just curious about something that just crossed my mind -are you ever worried algae growth on the class near the frag rack? Only you can't use your mag-float without without destroying your frags or hitting your frag rack? I guess I would just need to move the racks a couple times a week to clean the glass where they are huh?

On that note above, the use of a thin felt layer where magnets meet glass would be a wise idea as well in order to prevent scratches right? If so, may be wise to get some magnets rated for a little more pull, rather than a little less.
 
So use these magnets:

http://www.gaussboys.com/ndfeb-magnets/D1803E.html
Slightly smaller than a penny, 20lb pull force. I'm guessing these should be strong enough?

How should we secure the magnets to the egg crate?

phooshoot-3-photoWORKS.jpg

phooshoot-2-photoWORKS.jpg


Not sure how they did it on the mag-rack site... Almost looks like the egg-crate is resin 'd into the magnets? Reason I ask is because I don't want to ruin the integrety of the magnets coating. Would a small dab of silicon do the trick?


For the felt pads, I think we can pick up anything similar to these products and just cut and glue to size.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem~Category~Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies_Maintenance_Algae_Magnets~SearchText~~IdCategory~FIMTAMRP~pageindex~0~parsed~1.html
 
Hm I was wondering the same thing about the magnet attachment. Can we just use weld-on?
Regarding the ordering of the magnets; I think you found the right ones to use; maybe a 10 lb. pull will be enough? Do you want to order them, or would you like my to?
 
Hey Anthony. FWIW, the guy running blackrockreef originally was making frag racks outta eggcrate & epoxied magnets via a diff website (sry, the name eludes me right now). His name is Daniel and he originated @ sdreefs. The current stuff is injectionmolded I think, IIRC.

What worked for me (aside from the magfloat idea, albeit it was ugly) was using magnets from dealextreme.com (url="http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5964") with some plasti-dip on them. Stack 2 of them together and use a hex-head bolt to dip them, one side at a time. Superglue works fine. Depends on the glass thickness you have though, and silicon should work fine, depending on how far out your (frag)rack extends into the tank.
 
Thanks for the feedback Mitch! I'll definitely keep those things in mind when Jay and put these monsters together. My frag racks will be pretty small though, so I may finally be able to put that bottle of unopened silicone I have lying around to some use after all :)
So, for those of you with Mag-Racks, of Frag-Racks, and everything in between ... do you all just deal with the algae that builds up on the glass behind the rack, or do you move the rack every couple days to give glass a quick over with the algae cleaner?
 
Just another off the shelf:
http://www.oceanswonders.com/catalog/item/5617791/6383318.htm
I bought one from bulk reef supply. Kinda spendy but works ok. About 7.25" x 2". Move it around to clean.
Jim
 
This one is way better then the Oceans Wonders one. It is a little pricier but they are very solid and well put together. I have one in my tank and it holds very strong through 1/2" glass. I had once of each and the Oceans Wonders rack seemed very flimsy and the magnets not very strong.

http://www.blackrockreef.com/products-5.html
 
Which magnets did you get? What is the thickness of the glass between them? Is the pull right, a bit light, or a bit excessive?
 
We used these magnets:
http://www.gaussboys.com/ndfeb-magnets/D1803E.html

The pull is pretty strong, my tank is a 28g JBJ, not sure of the thickness but one magnet did the trick. Anthony and I did some testing and it seems like just adding another magnet whether it be on the inside or the outside to the back of another magnet increased the pulling strength significantly.
 
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