BRS Magnetic Frag Rack Expensive (35.00) Can I buy Magnets and Glue them to Egg Crate

[quantim0]

There's a guy on eBay from Minnesota who makes really nice frag racks for not a lot of money. Just search for them and his stuff will show up

 

[ravenmore]

The BRS holder has the magnets embedded in the plastic. The challenge of the DIY ideas is coming up with a glue that will stand up in the tank and support the weight of the frags without separating. I'd probably look at some kind of epoxy.

 

[mfinn]

I did a thread on making my frag racks, but the best pictures are gone ( thanks imageshack).


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1588014&highlight=frag+racks

 

[that Fish Guy]

I have the exact rack -- I bought it for about 25 bucks prior to the price increase. I agree that it seems too small, but I understand why it's the size that it is. Unfortunately, even though the magnets are strong, they can barely hold up a completely full rack -- I use the small plugs that BRS sells and it actually gets heavy. So, if you were to make your own rack, you'd need to buy more magnets, and you can't make it much wider, or it'll end up tipping over. You could go longer, but again, more magnets!

I agree that the eShopps racks have terrible magnets. I bought a couple of used ones and quickly got rid of them.

If you were to make your own racks, you may want to consider making an 'L' shape out of egg crate, then adding 4 magnets instead of 2. This will increase stability allowing you to make it wider.

I actually was thinking about Doing a Corner Rack so that I can have Magnets on Two Sides instead of 1

 

[that Fish Guy]

The BRS holder has the magnets embedded in the plastic. The challenge of the DIY ideas is coming up with a glue that will stand up in the tank and support the weight of the frags without separating. I'd probably look at some kind of epoxy.

That was another concern of mine.

So you are Saying that Super Glueing the Magnet to the Egg Crate will not Work?

Someone else said he does that all the time with no problems. (He uses the exact same Magnets for 6.99 too).

But I am looking for everyone's opinion here.

Especially if you actually tried this. (If you did try it did it work or not? And why or why did it not work - Details Please).

 

[tkeracer619]

The home depot egg crate is polystyrene not acrylic (its often mislabeled at hd as acrylic but its not). It can grow algae like crazy as it leaches phosphates (iirc). I've often used it and had a lot of hair algae growth on it until the coraline kicked in.

You can order it from shops in different colors but it will be labeled as acrylic eggcrate.
ex. http://www.1800ceiling.com/4722#.U3KEfIFdUlo

I've always just used a nice strong magfloat glued to a sheet of 1/4" acrylic with drilled holes. Makes a nice platform for the snails to do their job. It needs to be strong or you may lose all your frags in the middle of the night.

 

[mfinn]

That was another concern of mine.

So you are Saying that Super Glueing the Magnet to the Egg Crate will not Work?

Someone else said he does that all the time with no problems. (He uses the exact same Magnets for 6.99 too).

But I am looking for everyone's opinion here.

Especially if you actually tried this. (If you did try it did it work or not? And why or why did it not work - Details Please).

Superglue probably wouldn't work long term.
When you are dealing with expensive frags why risk it with the cheapest fastest solution.
You get what you pay for, especially when it's the amount of effort you put into something.

 

[that Fish Guy]

The home depot egg crate is polystyrene not acrylic (its often mislabeled at hd as acrylic but its not). It can grow algae like crazy as it leaches phosphates (iirc). I've often used it and had a lot of hair algae growth on it until the coraline kicked in.

You can order it from shops in different colors but it will be labeled as acrylic eggcrate.
ex. http://www.1800ceiling.com/4722#.U3KEfIFdUlo

I've always just used a nice strong magfloat glued to a sheet of 1/4" acrylic with drilled holes. Makes a nice platform for the snails to do their job. It needs to be strong or you may lose all your frags in the middle of the night.

It is not from Home Depot as it is Black and I have never seen Black Egg Crate at a Store.

I bought it from a Dealer at a Frag Swap and it is Black so is it Safe to say that it is Acrylic?

How else could I find out?

 

[JN93]

Frag a Rack has a nice one for only 24.99. ive had mine for almost 4 yrs

 

[Amoore311]

Super Glue Gel works just fine. I used the cheapo Dollar Store super glue gel and nothing was getting that frag rack off that magnet without a large amount of force.