Frag Mounting Idea

[Ram_Puppy]

ok, so i have two gorgeous colonies of tubastrea that i want to mount upside down under a couple of overhangs in my rock... (natural way for them to grow)

what I would like to do, is, using marine epoxy (sold in any fish store), mount a rare earth magnet to the underside of the overhang.

Then, using the same epoxy, seal another rare earth magnet to the bottom of the frag. (or superglue maybe, not sure)

then, I can just pop the frag on upside down for viewing, and when it's time to feed the little suckers I can take them out, put them in a bowl, and feed them that way.

any thoughts? My only concern is that i would need to get good magnets, or seal them in epoxy before using them to prevent any nastiness from leaching into the water.

has anyone tried this before?

oh.. and a wicked thought for the next tank... actually encasing the magnets in aragocrete rocks from moment 1. <-- awesome idea if i do say so myself.

[beareef19]

I have seen reef videos of glueing magnets to rocks and to frags so they can be moved. If I can remember where I saw it at ,I will post a link later, unless someone finds it before I can.
Barry

[LoneStar]

I use rare earth magnets at work. If you use them in your tank, make sure they are incased in some sort of epoxy. Depending on what types you get, may determine how well they will work for you. Some of these are really strong and might cause you breaking off the frag by accident while pulling them apart ;)

Also, if you insert them into some DIY rock, they will have to be space out. The rare earth magnets we use at work are so strong that they cannot be placed within a foot of each other on a table, otherwise they connect. This may happen inside the rock....although the viscocity of the rock mix may prevent that from happening as much ;)

Just some thoughts....

[erikharrison]

wow, could you imagine two rocks all of the sudden smashing together in your tank? That would be horribleeeeeeeeeeeeeee, but cool too as long as there were no casualties!
Assuming everything else worked I would be worried about corrosion. That is the thing that could go bad. Also, feeding a coral in a bowl? Wouldn't the polyps retract after being handled? Just thinking aloud... :P

[caferacermike]

I've seen rust gather around them and I've seen them "decompose" before. I'd worry about the effects of being submerged all the time.

[Ram_Puppy]

I have found some plastic coated ones... but htey are expensive.

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=164

I think it would be cheaper to just buy uncoated neo magnets and seal them with apoxy. (That's how powerheads are made after all.)

[erikharrison]

(That's how powerheads are made after all.)
ahhhhhh haaaaa

[LoneStar]

Here is the size of magnet we use at work:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/random%20stuff/magnet.jpg

Plastic coated or not...I would still find a epoxy mixture and encase it completely if you end up using any.

[Ram_Puppy]

Lonestar,

how hard would it be to pull the ones that are about half that thickness apart? (same diameter)

[LoneStar]

I'm not too sure of the exact specs of these. But I'm sure you can get different grades (for magnetic power?). The ones we use, if you do not have fingernails to seperate them, good luck! But you gotta take into account once its in expoxy...and possibly your DIY rock...they will seperate easier.

It is fun placing one on a table and moving it around underneath (around 2" of wood) like magic :)

[beareef19]

I think this is the site I was talking about.

Barry

http://www.nautilusreef.com/html/fragnets.html

[erikharrison]

cover the magnets in linex? They sell DIY paint on linex.

[Ram_Puppy]

ok, the 'fragnets' look exactly like the plastic coated magnets that i linked to.

but their site shows me how much they can hold, and that is important, as i can get a smaller magnet than I thought...

25 for 20 bucks.. thats 10 frags. I think i am going to try it.

[erikharrison]

it's funny because in the ad they talk about how crappy it looks having glue everywhere etc, but how do you get them to stay on the rocks? TONS OF GLUE, lol!

[Ram_Puppy]

LOL.. true..

oh, feeding in a bowl w/ tubastrea...

you basically put the bowl in the tank, putt he tubastrea in the bowl, and then take the bowl out.

usually, the tubastrea will retract anyhow (at least for me) I just put a little bit of food in the bowl to get the scent in there, then i go off and do something for 15 - 20 minutes, and when i com back, all the hungry little buggers are out. feed & put the buggers back in the same way you took them out.