ceramic frag plugs in bulk

[Driftwood]

How about some ceramic tiles from Home Depot? They have 4"x4" and 2"x2"...

What about saucers from clay pots?

Would either of these materials be safe?

Dave

 

[impur]

I believe some ppl use those tiles.

The whole purpose of this for me was to help educate the kids on reefkeeping by seeing some of the tools we use to propogate corals, as well as having a little fun with the clay and using their imaginations. These are 3rd graders. And since one of the ppl i'm working on this with has a few tanks at the school, next year they will even get to do some fragging of their own. He also has a coldwater display, and the kids get to go on collecting field trips to the coast (using a permit of course) to learn about cold water animals too. The plugs are going to be donated to my local club (the ones he doesn't use) and will be sold/raffled off. The proceeds will go to helping beach cleanups along the Oregon coast, as well as the Hatfield Marine Science Center and other non-profit uses.

http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/

Of course none of this will happen if I can't get a reef safe clay I'm just trying to do my part!

 

[impur]

I found a short article about using teracota to rebuild an artificial reef off Boracay island's coast. So teracota must be ok to use. I know its fine in FW tanks, i've used them for homes for cichlids

http://www.kriyayoga.com/expert_forums/scuba_diving/posts/29.html

 

[impur]

Ok a lady in Portland got back to me. She suggested porcelain body fully flexed clays. She said to fire them at about cone 6 and that i would have to experiement with getting them to the right porosity for what we are using them for.

She sells it as Silver Falls. She said there is another out there called Frost made by a company called Laguna.

More info as it comes!!

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

Im new to posting here at Club Zoa. Although ive been reading here for a while. Some of you might know me from reef centrals Zoa section. Well after reading every post there is and getting bored waiting for more i decided to sign up here. I was reading this thread and then i needed to take a pee. So i went to the bathroom, where my parents are doing some construction. And i found these rocks. They are about 1 inch by 1 inch and a half inch thick. I beleive they are solid stone. Wouldnt these work?

 

[impur]

Depends on what kind of rock they are i guess. Did they come in a package? Any pics of the package?

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

i think they were given to us to figure out if we like them, i'll ask my dad what they are and how much tehy cost etc etc

 

[redsonja]

I use ceramic tile 1x1 inch squares for frags, with no "stem" on the bottom as yet. I buy the cheapest ceramic at Home Depot or Lowes, and cut them into squares. I've used the 1.5 x 1.5 inch marble squares before and they are much nicer as far as cutting polyps off to make smaller frags but they are quite a bit more expensive. I try to keep those for larger frags that I want to grow out to become broodstock-types. It is labor-intensive to cut the ceramic tiles down, but we usually take an afternoon and cut a couple of boxes and have frag plugs for a month or so.

-Sonja

 

[surfn]

I use ceramic tile 1x1 inch squares for frags, with no "stem" on the bottom as yet. I buy the cheapest ceramic at Home Depot or Lowes, and cut them into squares. I've used the 1.5 x 1.5 inch marble squares before and they are much nicer as far as cutting polyps off to make smaller frags but they are quite a bit more expensive. I try to keep those for larger frags that I want to grow out to become broodstock-types. It is labor-intensive to cut the ceramic tiles down, but we usually take an afternoon and cut a couple of boxes and have frag plugs for a month or so.

-Sonja

which store are you down there in the durham area? i was down there visiting friends in april and tried to check out a few places down there....alot of the fancy zoas and other corals dont seem to be very available down there from the looks....just curious

 

[ranchonodinero]

It would seem that if you use high fire clay, fired to bisc at cone 6 or greater and is unglazed, you shouldn't have any problems with leeching. The lower fired clays and "terra cottas" could be problematic. Most of the leeching in ceramics comes from the glazes used and the colorants. I bet you could go to a paint your own pottery type place or contact a local potter and get even more detailed info on making your own.

 

[Reef Pets]

If you guys are looking for bulk ceramic plugs just let me know.