Donya's 55-Gallon

[Donya]

Haven't gotten 'round to properly putting my new platform together...have rocks, have magnets, have glue, but need motivation LOL.

This is my plan. SUDDEN ART ATTACK. Don't you love the art.

Brown things rock, gray things magnets, black things are bits where I need to stick an unusually large amount of glue. The rocks will be sitting out from the magnets for the most part, as only one has a little ledge that can go over the top. Might have to break out the epoxy putty...not sure yet.

I have found that double-magnet platforms are more stable. The rock either has to be super crazy light or it has to have two magnets to stop rotation. Rotation in itself isn't an issue, it's more the wedging that takes place when critters decide to force in. So it wedges, then it rotates, then it wedges more, and so on. Pretty soon there is an annoying bunch of gunk to clean out from behind the magnet to make sure it hangs on solidly. Having them staggered in height seems to stop it pretty well. I just hope I can get my glue to hold up and keep them level like that. Obviously I'll have to glue the magnets to each other first and then go about tacking rocks onto them. The magnets I will be using are Marina ones, the largest size that is still skinny instead of thick.

Tank pics better than what I had on the previous page may be a while in the making. My camera's auto focus has seen better days.

 

[lljdma06]

That is too cool, Donya. Serious, I'm going to ask you if you'd think about doing a write up for the resource center on how to do this? It would be awesome. You can use parts of the tank that one wouldn't think possible.

I like this, a lot and may consider this for my 36g. Is this how you did the other one?

L

 

[Donya]

I would be happy to! Let me get this one built and "beta tested" first though so I don't stick my foot in my mouth with the design, as it differs a bit from the other three platforms I have, all of which are smaller scale than this current one.

Just broke out the glue after my last post actually and got the magnets together at least. I guess art motivated me LOL. Keeping my fingers crossed that my camera's auto focus actually worked this time since I haven't looked at the pics yet.

 

[Donya]

Additional motivation found: my duncan outgrew its spot. Time for a new place - platform needed!

Alright, so here we go. Let me start off first by expressing my compete and incredible hatred for super glue. Don't let this happen to you, reader...

...although I don't see how I could have prevented it, even in hindsight. One tube had some sort of structural error and literally exploded all over my hand and another was about the runniest thing I have ever encountered thanks to switching brands after the tube explosion. The uncontrollable runny stuff actually made most of the mess, strangely enough, not the tube explosion. In case you are wondering which types I used:

- The exploding glue was krazy glue gel. I have used both gel and regular krazy glue successfully in the past; this exploding event was an anomaly. I will probably be going back to krazy glue now, despite the fact that I have some other minor complaints with it (namely periodic large air bubbles in the small tubes, giving about 1/3 to 1/2 the volume of what I paid for, but hey - I usually don't use all of it before I clog the tube anyway).

- The unmanagable mess was some generic-looking scotch superglue. I will never be using this again for gluing anything that has to go anywhere near my hands. Waaaaaay to runny even compared to the runny version of the krazy glue that I have used. The scotch glue just ran straight off what I put it on (an epoxy putty chip), hardly left a trail where it had run, then bonded my hands instantly on contact. Liquid hate in a bottle, at least for the kind of project I was doing.

Anyway, glue shenanigans aside, I have had much success today getting the new platform up and together. I will do a more formal writeup soon, but here is a rough explanation in pics for the moment.

STEP 1: get magnets. You want the biggest, strongest magnets you can find that fit your size constraints. I prefer long ones to big square ones, although with a big square one you could probably get away with a single magnet instead of using two like I have done here (it would just be uglier IMO).

STEP 2: get rocks. I am using what I believe to be rhyolitic tuff sold as "tufa." Although not aragonite, this rock is safe to use just like limestone (provided you do a brief wet test with it first) and has the benefit of being incredibly light and well-textured for gluing things to it. WARNING: this type of rock is more brittle than limestone, so it can't be glued in a way that will take any significant twisting stress. You can use limestone or reef rock as well, and even synthetics as I used for my original platform. The main thing you want is a very light object with a flat side, which can be hard to find. You also want the rocks to be DRY AND CLEAN while you do the gluing for the best possible connection, so live rock is probably a bad idea. Plan on letting the rock colonize in-tank.

In the end I only used two of the three rocks but got three because I didn't know which ones I would be using. Dry rock is cheap, so it is worth getting several and then picking the best once you have the magnets glued and can actually try arranging the rocks. You will notice that my final arrangement looks somewhat different from my original plan.

STEP 3: glue magnets based on staggering principal discussed in an earlier post. Superglue actually did really well with this. MAKE SURE YOU GLUE BOTH THE IN-TANK AND OUT-OF-TANK PARTS THE SAME WAY. Also absolutely do not glue them whilst stuck together. Glue one side, then put a layer of plastic (like a ziplock bag) between the halves and glue the remaining halves to match. This way, if the glue seeps where you don't want it, at worst you just have to cut away the bag.

In-tank part:

Out-of-tank part:

STEP 4: glue the rocks to the magnets. Basically you cannot have too much glue, so expect to dump an entire tube the size of the one shown in one of the pics above into something of this scale. Position the rocks so that they are pressing down on the glue for the best bond. I was able to get mine to balance to do this. If you can't make yours do it (obviously you want to test it before there is glue involved), you will need to brace them or clamp them somehow.

And after the glue dried:

Although only just put into use tonight, I daresay this is the best magnet-based platform I've made. It is so much sturdier that it makes a bit of a mockery of my original one.

Got these zoas today too to go on it eventually, but they won't be going on until after my hands are less glue-covered and I have some more trusted-brand glue to use.

And here is what the original platform looks like now, with the duncans swapped out for some other zoas and some of my tree coral frags placed:

 

[GrayScale]

Nice handy work there Donya! I really like how that shelf came out.

 

[wildechild_01]

Wow, what a clever idea... and it looks incredible, i love the zoa coverage on your original one. and the new one looks like a lot of new room... now im staring at my tank wondering where i could put something similar haha.

Really though, brilliant idea and it looks amazing

 

[Donya]

The zoas have gone a bit nuts lol. I'm starting to wonder if I should actually move the GSPs...immanent turf war. The growth rate on that one type of Zoanthid seems to be increasing somehow; both patches are going bonkers. Alternatively I could learn to frag.


The duncan has also stopped sulking:

 

[Donya]

I was supposed to be finishing a paper on the implementation and application of chord spaces today (my research stuff in that mysterious, non-hobby thing called "real life"). So far I have done this instead LOL.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/78343073/Magnetic-Platforms-for-Reef-Aquaria

 

[lljdma06]

I was supposed to be finishing a paper on the implementation and application of chord spaces today (my research stuff in that mysterious, non-hobby thing called "real life"). So far I have done this instead LOL.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/78343073/Magnetic-Platforms-for-Reef-Aquaria

Cause you have your priorities straight, Donya. I'm supposed to be doing lesson plans today, but I'm answering this post instead.

I'll link it to MARC in a bit, let me just finish commenting on all these journals first.

L

 

[Donya]

Going to admit shameless copying: I got a sun coral. Stupidly I got it right before my schedule went bonkers though, so I had to put the idea of training it on hold for a bit. I've just been feeding it at ~11:30pm instead when lights are off and it's open. I couldn't get it to eat zooplex (didn't stick) and the polyps struggled with mysis...not sure why really. Too big? Regardless, I was able to feed it the same small-size pellets I use on my other LPS (duncan, elegance, and blastos), so I guess pellets it is for now. I figure if it worked to turn two duncan heads into eight it should be good enough. This is, of course, with a flashlight that I can only flick over periodically or the darned things close up again. It's sort of like playing that carnival game where you try to throw the ping pong ball into a cup, but it's in the dark and you only get to see the cup once every few seconds. Fun times lol.

And I tried to perma-glue my chili coral to a platform, but it fell off straight away (bad glue job on my part) so it's in a breeder box. Blah. It lost some sclerites but seems ok otherwise. Time for another go at that today while my car gets buried under snow outside.

 

[kj23502]

Hey great minds think alike!! I was going to do the same thing except with Neodymium magnets. Was going to cover the magnet in the tank with liquid electrical tape.

Sun corals are beautiful. I'd like one some day.

Got a fts?

 

[lljdma06]

Going to admit shameless copying: I got a sun coral. Stupidly I got it right before my schedule went bonkers though, so I had to put the idea of training it on hold for a bit. I've just been feeding it at ~11:30pm instead when lights are off and it's open. I couldn't get it to eat zooplex (didn't stick) and the polyps struggled with mysis...not sure why really. Too big? Regardless, I was able to feed it the same small-size pellets I use on my other LPS (duncan, elegance, and blastos), so I guess pellets it is for now. I figure if it worked to turn two duncan heads into eight it should be good enough. This is, of course, with a flashlight that I can only flick over periodically or the darned things close up again. It's sort of like playing that carnival game where you try to throw the ping pong ball into a cup, but it's in the dark and you only get to see the cup once every few seconds. Fun times lol.

Yeah, mine eat frozen mysis all the time. I've gotten mine to eat pellets too. Haha, I don't need a flashlight to feed mine though. I'm sorry, was cracking up while I read this. I can picture it, Donya. Sun corals are great.

And I tried to perma-glue my chili coral to a platform, but it fell off straight away (bad glue job on my part) so it's in a breeder box. Blah. It lost some sclerites but seems ok otherwise. Time for another go at that today while my car gets buried under snow outside.

Is it snowing that bad? Yikes! It's gorgeous in Miami.

L

 

[Donya]

Got a fts?

Not since one page back; it's on my to-do list once I get the chili secured. I need to clean the glass again and then figure out why my camera has gone back to having auto-focus problems. It did fine taking pics of the platform, but then it recently went back to wobbling in and out not being sure what to focus on in a shot even when I've got it braced.

Is it snowing that bad? Yikes! It's gorgeous in Miami.

Oh I'm sure it's nice down there Got around 6 inches of fluff in the New Haven area in the last 24hrs. It's because a really awesome LFS one state over in Massachusetts was having a massive sale today; I swear I get snowed in every time that happens. They caused the October snow storm too, but that time I was stubborn and drove in it anyway.

Yeah, mine eat frozen mysis all the time. I've gotten mine to eat pellets too.

I am puzzled as to why mine have such a hard time with the mysis. They're not especially small polyps or anything, but they get a hold of the tip of the mysis and then don't seem able to suck it down properly, so they just let go of it after a while. I'm hoping it's just a matter of them needing smaller stuff for a while to bounce back from shipping stress. A few polyps were really sunken but look better after getting some pellets last night.

 

[lljdma06]

Is it snowing that bad? Yikes! It's gorgeous in Miami.

Oh I'm sure it's nice down there Got around 6 inches of fluff in the New Haven area in the last 24hrs. It's because a really awesome LFS one state over in Massachusetts was having a massive sale today; I swear I get snowed in every time that happens. They caused the October snow storm too, but that time I was stubborn and drove in it anyway.

Yeah, it's nice down here. Awwwww, no massive sale for you. That sucks. We do get hurricanes though, if that's any consolation.

Yeah, mine eat frozen mysis all the time. I've gotten mine to eat pellets too.

I am puzzled as to why mine have such a hard time with the mysis. They're not especially small polyps or anything, but they get a hold of the tip of the mysis and then don't seem able to suck it down properly, so they just let go of it after a while. I'm hoping it's just a matter of them needing smaller stuff for a while to bounce back from shipping stress. A few polyps were really sunken but look better after getting some pellets last night.

Yeah, I don't get that either, because mine just suck away...

Granted, this one was fed at the LFS for about a month before I could take it home. The other for two months. Many times they are just collected and then they're not fed at all until they get to the LFS. And then if the LFS doesn't know that they need to be fed, they just sit in the store and starve.

Just to let you know though mine sulked for about a week after I changed from the 2.5g to the 4g.

L

 

[Donya]

Went to feed the sun coral tonight and HOLY @#$% CRAB ON PLATFORMS!

Not 100% sure how it got up there so I moved all platforms up a couple inches and took a joint out of the filter intakes to move those higher in case those were the rout up. Since I am pretty certain the other platforms would have dropped it, I figure it must have gone up the filter sock, across the spray bar, and then dropped down on to the new platform...but it could perhaps have climbed the chili coral somehow (although I would expect damage if that was the case). The duncan was making some slime and was upset from being sat on, but I don't see any sign of injury to it. While I want to smack that crab, I must admit I am impressed that the new platform I made held a grapefruit-sized crab+heavy shell combination. That animal is far heavier than any coral I would put there.

Granted, this one was fed at the LFS for about a month before I could take it home. The other for two months. Many times they are just collected and then they're not fed at all until they get to the LFS. And then if the LFS doesn't know that they need to be fed, they just sit in the store and starve.

Mine had only been at the LFS for perhaps 2 days max. I'm fortunate that this LFS hired a local reef expert so the corals are really well cared for, but of course it wasn't there for long. Looking at yours more closely it seems the difference is in how far out they're willing to extend. FINALLY got exactly one polyp out that far tonight for feeding. I guess the others will follow suit eventually and maybe then mysis will work.