ceramic tiles safe for tank?

[kappaknight]

I'm thinking about setting up a zoa frag tank and since the easiest way to frag zoas is off of a smooth slick surface (next to sand), I was wondering if ceramic tiles would be safe to be put into the tank so I can put some zoas on it and have it grow out from there.

 

[ficklefins]

Yes, you can put ceramic tiles in a tank just make sure they are plain and that they don't have any chemicals or anything like that.

BTW, it may be easier for you to use acrylic instead of tile. If you get thin acrylic you can just cut right through the acrylic when making frags. That way you have an instant mounted frag to hand out or sell.

Good luck and let us know what you go with.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I like white plastic cutting board...

Laurie

 

[Stixbaraca]

Anyone ever think of cutting thin slices of liverock (maybe 1/4" thick) with a band saw or something then propagating on that? I have though about how easy it would be to do.

 

[ficklefins]

I really like this brainstorming session. Let's keep the ideas coming and perhaps we can come up with a really good idea.

So to build on some of the ideas (outside the nutty putty idea of Cnutz) :roll: j/k.

What if you were to take something like acrylic, and cut into it so that it is right at the point of breaking. Then attach your zoas to that? Perhaps you could even scratch up the surface with some sandpaper for zoa spread.

That way when you get ready to frag your zoas you can find your groove and cut along that groove. Zoas will be attached and the cut will be easy to do!?

Tile version:
Place a bunch of 1inch tiles next to each other so that when the zoa spreads it spreads to a neighboring tile. Creating a ready to ship out frag on a 1inch square after you cut the matt that is.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

If you go in Lowes or Home Depot, by those same tiles, you'll see Turkish tumbled marble squares. They come on grid paper, in sheets of 12-15.

Marble deposits/quarries are sometimes where ancient oceans once existed. Marble is sometimes made from fossils left from marine invertebrates. Coral skeleton is calcium carbonate, marble is too. When hurricanes cause propagation, new coral want to encrust over broken coral ( they love it). These squares line up nice on egg crate too.

Cheers


Edit% Word rearrangement...dyslexia

 

[ficklefins]

If you go in Lowes or Home Depot, by those same tiles, you'll see Turkish tumbled marble squares. They come on grid paper, in sheets of 12-15.

Marble deposits/quarries are sometimes where ancient oceans once existed. Marble is sometimes made from fossils left from marine invertebrates. Marble skeleton is calcium carbonate, coral is too. When hurricanes cause propagation, new coral want to encrust over broken coral ( they love it). These squares line up nice on egg crate too.

Cheers

Good bit of info Dr.

Do you mind introducing yourself to the club. From your first post I think your input would be a great resource.

http://www.club-zoa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=144

Thanks, and I'll keep an eye out for those Turkish tumbled marble squares.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

They are 1" : 1 1/2" across and 1/2" thick. The grid paper needs to be soaked in hot water to aid in the removal of adhesives. I'd avoid marble with "veins"-- they have metal deposits in them (copper).


They look similar to this except smaller.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=95152-78074-07351&lpage=none

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Dr. Faustus- as in Faust, the theatrical maker of the deal...?


Laurie

 

[Dr.Faustus]

Yes, mam.

 

[spongebob]

anyone ever try to take like 4" PVC and cut it in half creating semycircle kind of bridges and have the mother colony grow out on that?

I've seen zoas grow insanly fast on overflows and return pipes.

I'm gonna try set some up tomorrow ^^

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Anyone ever think of cutting thin slices of liverock (maybe 1/4" thick) with a band saw or something then propagating on that? I have though about how easy it would be to do.

Yep. 10 minutes on a tile saw.

You can bleach and treat with dechlor if you want to make them nice and white. Good for oxidizing any trapped organics.

 

[Pazazz]

Nice pic Mr. Ugly.... I have been using sliced Tonga branch for a while. It makes great live rock for the fuge and you have frag disks avalible all the time...

 

[The Fragmaster]

Actualy they come in squares of 144 pieces or so for around $13-14.00. They are hot glued on fiber mesh backing, and they are found in the bathroom fixtures and tile section at lowes. I dont think HD has them.
They measure 1/4" x7/6x7/8" roughly.
Just pop them off the backing by prying them up and microwave a bowl of hot water.
Place a few in the hot water for a few minutes then the glue rubs right off.

It was I who posted the idea on NR a while back and have since been growing coral on them
(The Propagator).
Zoas grow "ok" on them but SPS, and yellow polyps ( parazoanthus) grow Like WOW ! on them once they encrust. Palythoas LOVE them too.
The biggest problem with them is algae build up.
If you make an eggcrate rack make sure your clean up crew can climb on some how to clean.
Wen you place them on the egg crate make sure you space therm apart about 1/4" so that current can get all around them.
I blow mine off with a turkey baster once a day for good measure.

I do the same thing you do Mr. Ugly as well only with a scroll saw.
THey work wel but My customers complain about how they dont seem to fit well on thier rock work.
Same for the tiles, but for sme reason they preffer them over sliced rock?
.

 

[berns]

i made some aragonite plates for growing zoa colonies on, 5 parts aragonite/1 part cement, i used some plastic flower pot trays as moulds,but need to cure the finished plate (24 hrs for cement to dry in moulds then 10 days in a bucket of fresh water changing water ervery 2 days) first picture was overhead view of wat my prop tank shall look like

 

[fishes2889]

Thats a really cool idea berns...

Steve

 

[berns]

i like coralnutz idea of using putty aswell maybe milliput even tho as im just starting my percey thrower actavaties im not sure if speed of growth is same as would be on aragonite disc's as i read some of the zoa farmers swear using aragonite does increase growth (thats why i made them)

do you still use putty coralnutz? is speed of growth noticably slower then other used materials for disc's etc?

i also started glueing polyps to cockle shells to make frags as they got a nice oval shape and are cheap as chips (get them by the 100 for peanuts off ebay) and as they made from calcium they wont stunt growth, also they not heavy so save on shipping.

talking of shipping do any of you peeps ship your frags wet only wrapped in a wet paper towel?

 

[rocko918]

I am not a fan of using tile, it is very hard to cut when you want to frag them. It takes too much effort and force to get a good cut and sometimes it hard to get what you want.
I have been starting to use square reef disk, well not disk they are square. I like the putty idea, it is easy to cut.

Just my humble 2 cents.

 

[The Fragmaster]

The ones I use are so small you dont neet to cut them.