Magnetic Rockscaping

[phrog]

I've been thinking about hanging rocks on the back of my 30g. I've read about magnetic frag racks or similar things and wanted to do something like it using liver rock. I figured neodymium magnets should work well. Their propensity to snap together and brittleness left me concerned about possibly chipping or cracking the glass. Coating the magnets in rubber came to mind but I was rescued from a DIY mess when I found a company that sells a variety of neodymium magnets already sealed in plastic. The plastic coating also has the added bonus working with super glue better than polished metal.

I used a masonry bit to bore a small indention in the flattest side of a rock. Glued a magnet into the rock and attached it with another magnet on the outside of the tank. This was just a test so I only bought enough magnets to hang two smaller rocks. I'm happy with the appearance and new possibilities for rockscaping.

First picture is gluing a magnet in place (the one in the middle is the magnet, the others are shrooms). The second picture is letting the glue cure a bit so the force of the exterior magnet doesn't pull the other out of the rock. The third picture is a top down shot of the the first rock in place on the back of the aquarium. I'll try to get a better set of pictures of the two rocks in place after I clean up the glass a bit.
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[Europhyllia]

very cool. makes me want to do something similar to my lizard enclosure. I wonder if they have magnets strong enough to hold through 1" of wood...

[Squiers007]

Very neat! Any chance you could provide us with the link to where you purchased the magnets?

[BIGBIRD123]

We did the same thing in my wife's 56g corner. We got the idea from Mike Delgado, who did the same across the entire back of his 200g. We used a masonry saw that I have to slice the rock to produce a flat surface to put the magnets and siliconed the other magnet on the outside of the back. When we needed to frag something, we took the rock off the back, fragged it and put it back.

We got the magnets from http://www.kjmagnetics.com/, they have coated magnets.

[phrog]

Let me know if anybody is going to order magnets and I'll split the shipping with you. The rubber coated magnets are found at K&J Magnetics. (https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=164)

[tebstan]

Let me know if anybody is going to order magnets and I'll split the shipping with you. The rubber coated magnets are found at K&J Magnetics. (https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=164)



Definitely interested.

How long ago did you glue them? About how much did the rock weigh, and does it appear to be holding the weight well? Which size magnet did you get?

[Jarob]

You could always make a "rock" out of pond foam and actually put holes for frag plugs on it. That way it would be to your taste and super light weight, perfect for the magnets

[Squiers007]

Jarob! You are a genius! I am totally going to make myself a "rock" frag rack.

[tebstan]

I'm going to be ordering soon. Thanks for the idea! This is just what I was looking for.

[phrog]

The rocks are holding very well. Each rock weighed about two pounds. I think the inside magnet was 1/4" and the outside magnet was 1/2".

Send me a message if you're ordering. I'd like to get a few more and we can save on shipping.

[tebstan]

What I'm hanging isn't that heavy, but I'd hate to find out just the little magnets weren't enough, so I'm ordering both sizes too. I plan on placing my order tonight, if you're still interested in adding to it. Shipping's only $5 though, not too bad.

[txg8gxp]

Sure order both sizes. I could always use some to hang some sps off my overflow :)

What I'm hanging isn't that heavy, but I'd hate to find out just the little magnets weren't enough, so I'm ordering both sizes too. I plan on placing my order tonight, if you're still interested in adding to it. Shipping's only $5 though, not too bad.

[tebstan]

Sure order both sizes. I could always use some to hang some sps off my overflow :)
That's exactly what I was thinking. :) Will the little ones be strong enough, or get more of the big ones? I was planning on the 10pk of little ones and just 2 of the bigger ones. the price jumps so much, and I don't know enough about magnets to tell what I would need.