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Not sure Glasswalker is regularly on the forum any more. He moved away and had to sell his tank. This idea was never printed, I also doubt the 3d render even made it to an STL file.Has a printable file been created yet ? If so will you share it ?
one with a large amount of complexity i don’t think a mix would be thin enough but that would be really cool, at some point i want to try and make some artificial pieces with the white concrete/shell/sand mix to make some intricate nano piecesThere is a certain knack to generative organic shapes and solids. Very different toolset really to drive them.
Would be interesting still if there was a way to drive some sort of casting process for ceramics. Could just be molds and firing in a kiln, but the advantage of going straight to 3d print is the ease of making certain shapes you just can't do with molds. Not sure there is a way to cast ceramics
I don't see a reason why ABS printed "rock" wouldn't work, even from a ph buffering standpoint considering most of us would have sand under said plastic rock, or could just make the plastic rock hollow and fill the void with aragonite sand and direct some amount of tank flow through that space via dedicated ports, etc.. It doesn't seem like complicated thing to pull off. A simple test would be starting a reef tank with a tupperware container with a bunch of tiny holes drilled in it and filling it with the proper sand. Imagine having a bunch of small, compartmentalized individual sandbeds with flow entering it from all directions to prevent hydrogen sulfide buildup.
generally, frag systems that don't have live rock in the display will have live rock or ceramic bio-media in the sumpIt would work fine. There are literally frag systems built with no live rock component.
That said, having some rockwork is beneficial. Could be a pile of rubble in the sump for all it mattered.
If you were to put sand in a hollow plastic rock with holes, the sand would either fall out of the holes or the holes would be too small and/or too few to let flow in. Remember that aquarium sand is usually in between 0.5 and 2mm grain size. A fine mesh would be needed to both keep the sand in and let flow through, though it would be flimsy and too thin/small to be printed by a conventional FDM printer.I don't see a reason why ABS printed "rock" wouldn't work, even from a ph buffering standpoint considering most of us would have sand under said plastic rock, or could just make the plastic rock hollow and fill the void with aragonite sand and direct some amount of tank flow through that space via dedicated ports, etc.. It doesn't seem like complicated thing to pull off. A simple test would be starting a reef tank with a tupperware container with a bunch of tiny holes drilled in it and filling it with the proper sand. Imagine having a bunch of small, compartmentalized individual sandbeds with flow entering it from all directions to prevent hydrogen sulfide buildup.
If the holes would be too small to let flow in, then how does actually live rock work? Think about that for a second. So, yes, there could be either a “falling out” or clogging issue if the holes were too large/small. So what do you do? You have the sand sit in a basin within the “rock” and directly flow from larger holes above the sand line downward and at an angle to flow along the bottom curvature of the basin.If you were to put sand in a hollow plastic rock with holes, the sand would either fall out of the holes or the holes would be too small and/or too few to let flow in. Remember that aquarium sand is usually in between 0.5 and 2mm grain size. A fine mesh would be needed to both keep the sand in and let flow through, though it would be flimsy and too thin/small to be printed by a conventional FDM printer.
I have a basket of seachem matrix in one of my sumps for this exact reason.It would work fine. There are literally frag systems built with no live rock component.
That said, having some rockwork is beneficial. Could be a pile of rubble in the sump for all it mattered.
The sand inside the plastic rock would fall into the holes, clogging them, and in order for the rock to be feasibly printed, the holes would be too few to let flow through. (Good) live rock doesn't get clogged because it is filled with pores and there is nothing inside the rock to clog the pores. Having the sand sit in a basin within the plastic rock would not give you enough surface area for ample nitrification. Remember that the pores in live rock are much smaller than the space between sand particles.If the holes would be too small to let flow in, then how does actually live rock work? Think about that for a second. So, yes, there could be either a “falling out” or clogging issue if the holes were too large/small. So what do you do? You have the sand sit in a basin within the “rock” and directly flow from larger holes above the sand line downward and at an angle to flow along the bottom curvature of the basin.