JCOLE's ACRO Dominant Build

[JCOLE]

I have been wanting to come up with something for frag mounting on my rocks for awhile now due to limited space and I am finally going to work on it this weekend. I have limited rock space and will need to bump out my new corals for growth and looks.

The idea is to use PEX tubing and mount it to the rocks. The frags slide in with almost a perfect fit. I am thinking it would allow me to move frags around without mounting permanently if needed. They had red, white, or blue. I figured red would look best until covered in coralline algae. I am going to have small ones and also use my heat gun to angle some so I can mount some away from the rocks.

What do you all think and does anyone know if PEX will leach anything overtime?

 

[gsepanik]

What a good thread! Just finished reading though it all. Awesome Tank!

 

[Ben’r]

I have been wanting to come up with something for frag mounting on my rocks for awhile now due to limited space and I am finally going to work on it this weekend. I have limited rock space and will need to bump out my new corals for growth and looks.

The idea is to use PEX tubing and mount it to the rocks. The frags slide in with almost a perfect fit. I am thinking it would allow me to move frags around without mounting permanently if needed. They had red, white, or blue. I figured red would look best until covered in coralline algae. I am going to have small ones and also use my heat gun to angle some so I can mount some away from the rocks.

What do you all think and does anyone know if PEX will leach anything overtime?

Hey mate I’m a plumber. PEX is just polyethylene (cross linked in the manufacturing process) and is used for potable water in a lot of places throughout the world. PEX-AL is the one you want to stay away from as it has an aluminium core (that you’d see visibly at any cut.) That right there is plain PEX and would be fine. If worried give it a little rinse to remove any residuals from manufacturing/storage. Nice tank!

 

[JCOLE]

What a good thread! Just finished reading though it all. Awesome Tank!

Thank you! It's still a work in progress but it's getting there.

 

[JCOLE]

Hey mate I’m a plumber. PEX is just polyethylene (cross linked in the manufacturing process) and is used for potable water in a lot of places throughout the world. PEX-AL is the one you want to stay away from as it has an aluminium core (that you’d see visibly at any cut.) That right there is plain PEX and would be fine. If worried give it a little rinse to remove any residuals from manufacturing/storage. Nice tank!

Thank you. I did some research last night and it appears to be PEX-B which seems to be ok compared to the other types. I started a thread yesterday in the chemistry forum and some are advising against it due to UV degradation over time which could cause leaching. If interested, here's that thread. Interested to know your thoughts on that.

Thread 'PEX for mouning frags. Will it leach?' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pex-for-mouning-frags-will-it-leach.875162/

 

[dieselkeeper]

Great idea. You could use regular PVC in 1/2 inch. I remember a video I seen on bending it without kinks. Filling it with sand allows it to bend. I'm sure there is a YouTube video out there.

 

[JCOLE]

Great idea. You could use regular PVC in 1/2 inch. I remember a video I seen on bending it without kinks. Filling it with sand allows it to bend. I'm sure there is a YouTube video out there.

I went to Lowe's and I picked up some CPVC. Same size as PEX. What do you think? It seems stronger than the PEX.

 

[JCOLE]

I also have acrylic rod I originally wanted to use. Just worried about the strength of the plug glued to the acrylic and also the mount will be permanent.

 

[Ben’r]

We’re not allowed to install PEX outside, if so it must be lagged as the UV will cause leaching into the potable supply. This is outdoors covering the whole UV spectrum. If it was LED’s with such a narrow range in diodes, I would hardly be concerned. MH with a higher curve in that UV range? Maybe a little. How many people have run stock tanks with MH over, quite a few. If you want to be overly cautious people have been using exposed uPVC in reefs for decades.

 

[dieselkeeper]

I went to Lowe's and I picked up some CPVC. Same size as PEX. What do you think? It seems stronger than the PEX.

How do you plan on mounting the pipe to the rock?

 

[JCOLE]

How do you plan on mounting the pipe to the rock?

Stick it and Pray!

I was planning to either cross cut the bottoms and heat to flare out for extra surface area. Or just mount as is. Going to take putty and make a surface area large enough for the pipe to slide in and hopefully putty will go inside and I could form the putty around the bottom edges to the rocks. Sounds good to me at least.

 

[JCOLE]

We’re not allowed to install PEX outside, if so it must be lagged as the UV will cause leaching into the potable supply. This is outdoors covering the whole UV spectrum. If it was LED’s with such a narrow range in diodes, I would hardly be concerned. MH with a higher curve in that UV range? Maybe a little. How many people have run stock tanks with MH over, quite a few. If you want to be overly cautious people have been using exposed uPVC in reefs for decades.

That makes since! I remember sometime around 2008ish that @WWC had a huge SPS tank in their shop that had an aquascape that was made completely out of PVC. I always remembered that. I wonder how that one turned out in the end?

 

[JCOLE]

Made a couple of the acrylic mounts yesterday and I am very happy with how everything turned out. I took some pictures of how I did it in case this turns out nice and someone else wants to implement this to their tank as well.

Also, don't mind the messy garage. We were organizing the garage this weekend and it looks like a disaster.

I cut down a 3/8" acrylic rod using a pipe cutter. This makes it so easy. Just a couple of times around to score the acrylic and then snap it off.

Figure out the bend or angle you want and use a heat gun to warm up the acrylic. Takes about 30 seconds.

After the Acrylic gets hot enough then there are about 10 seconds of wiggle room to position the angle. Once it's in the right position then I ran it under water to cool it down. Once it's cool then it's as hard as the original piece.

For the tops, I used tops of aragonite frag plugs. I will use acrylic disks on the second run of these. Just cut off the stems and they are good to go.

I then used Superglue GEL and applied it to the disk. You don't need to coat the entire plug. Just enough for the Acrylic.

I then heated up the tip for about 30-45 seconds and instantly pushed it onto the frag plug. The heat binds with the Superglue and sets it almost immediately.

Again, there are only about 10 seconds of workability until it starts to harden. Once, the desired angle was in place then I took it to water again. This instantly set it and it was hard as a rock. I tried pulling the disk off and it wouldn't budge. I even dropped one right on the head and nothing.

I then mounted a couple of them. I just used epoxy and superglue for the base. I made a ball of epoxy and put superglue gel on the bottom. Formed the ball into the area to get a good foundation. I then put superglue on the bottom of the acrylic rod and stuck it into the epoxy. I then formed the epoxy around the acrylic and against the rock work. The large piece at the bottom required a brace for about 30 minutes. This is a work in progress and only temporary for the moment. I have an idea for future larger pieces.

I added a couple of other pieces along the top rock work from this one.

The pictures don't do it any justice but the acrylic makes it look like they are floating. When corals start to grow it will look like they are just floating there. It's going to give more of this look once I make the other tops out of Acrylic instead of the frag plugs. I think in a couple of months it's going to look really good.

I am excited to see how this goes for two reasons. One, this allows me to mount more corals throughout the tank and doesn't limit it to just the rockwork. Two, I have a theory that the corals will develop into colonies quicker instead of mounting to the rock work. The reason is they have flow underneath and also they don't have a base to spend a lot of time encrusting. In theory, they should spend more of their energy branching out for light instead of going underneath the frag plug away from the light.

Let me know what you all think and if you have any suggestions or questions about this.

 

[ScottB]

Made a couple of the acrylic mounts yesterday and I am very happy with how everything turned out. I took some pictures of how I did it in case this turns out nice and someone else wants to implement this to their tank as well.

Also, don't mind the messy garage. We were organizing the garage this weekend and it looks like a disaster.

I cut down a 3/8" acrylic rod using a pipe cutter. This makes it so easy. Just a couple of times around to score the acrylic and then snap it off.

Figure out the bend or angle you want and use a heat gun to warm up the acrylic. Takes about 30 seconds.

After the Acrylic gets hot enough then there are about 10 seconds of wiggle room to position the angle. Once it's in the right position then I ran it under water to cool it down. Once it's cool then it's as hard as the original piece.

For the tops, I used tops of aragonite frag plugs. I will use acrylic disks on the second run of these. Just cut off the stems and they are good to go.

I then used Superglue GEL and applied it to the disk. You don't need to coat the entire plug. Just enough for the Acrylic.

I then heated up the tip for about 30-45 seconds and instantly pushed it onto the frag plug. The heat binds with the Superglue and sets it almost immediately.

Again, there are only about 10 seconds of workability until it starts to harden. Once, the desired angle was in place then I took it to water again. This instantly set it and it was hard as a rock. I tried pulling the disk off and it wouldn't budge. I even dropped one right on the head and nothing.

I then mounted a couple of them. I just used epoxy and superglue for the base. I made a ball of epoxy and put superglue gel on the bottom. Formed the ball into the area to get a good foundation. I then put superglue on the bottom of the acrylic rod and stuck it into the epoxy. I then formed the epoxy around the acrylic and against the rock work. The large piece at the bottom required a brace for about 30 minutes. This is a work in progress and only temporary for the moment. I have an idea for future larger pieces.

I added a couple of other pieces along the top rock work from this one.

The pictures don't do it any justice but the acrylic makes it look like they are floating. When corals start to grow it will look like they are just floating there. It's going to give more of this look once I make the other tops out of Acrylic instead of the frag plugs. I think in a couple of months it's going to look really good.

I am excited to see how this goes for two reasons. One, this allows me to mount more corals throughout the tank and doesn't limit it to just the rockwork. Two, I have a theory that the corals will develop into colonies quicker instead of mounting to the rock work. The reason is they have flow underneath and also they don't have a base to spend a lot of time encrusting. In theory, they should spend more of their energy branching out for light instead of going underneath the frag plug away from the light.

Let me know what you all think and if you have any suggestions or questions about this.

I think it is brilliant. I much prefer the aesthetic of the clear acrylic.

In the last pic, if that is Hollywood Stunner chalice... that stuff has long stinging tentacles and grows like a weed.

 

[JCOLE]

I think it is brilliant. I much prefer the aesthetic of the clear acrylic.

In the last pic, if that is Hollywood Stunner chalice... that stuff has long stinging tentacles and grows like a weed.

No, it's not a chalice. I believe it is a stylocoeniella. I did have a hollywood stunner before and I removed it after it stung a coral 3" away.

 

[JCOLE]

Spent the night last night taking apart my Trident. I haven't checked my readings against my Hanna for awhile now and when I tested last week it was less than 1 dKh of my Hanna. They used to be .10 from each other. I have had it for 2 years and never cleaned the cuvette. Well, needless to say, it was time. Cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and the cuvette is clean now. However, still a little off. I ordered the hanna test reagents to confirm my Hanna readings.

 

[JCOLE]

I now bring you Version 2!

Smaller acrylic rod with a clear disk. Rod is still tough as nails and I feel I could pull a car with it before ripping off the top disk. I can make one within 2 minutes and it dries almost instantly. With this setup then it should really look like they are floating now.

 

[ScottB]

I now bring you Version 2!

Smaller acrylic rod with a clear disk. Rod is still tough as nails and I feel I could pull a car with it before ripping off the top disk. I can make one within 2 minutes and it dries almost instantly. With this setup then it should really look like they are floating now.

I used a bunch of these acrylic rods to build some aquascape pieces. Incredibly strong stuff.

 

[JCOLE]

I used a bunch of these acrylic rods to build some aquascape pieces. Incredibly strong stuff.

I really like the smaller rod. Gives me a lot more mounting options with smaller holes in the rocks. Looking forward to getting them installed this weekend.

 

[JCOLE]

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