Jschulte91
New member
At CRASE Paul was talking about using ceramic tile for frag mounting, does anyone know if I need to get a specific tile. The polished finished doesn't hurt anything.
Thanks JSchulte
Thanks JSchulte
Frag
- Thread starter Jschulte91
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TulsaReefer
New member
I'm not sure what Paul has used, but had a lot of tumbled travertine (marble) tiles left from a kitchen remodel we did. I've played around with it some and it seems to work fairly well. It grows coralline fast, and while I've only used a little of it so far, seems to work fine. Since marble is calcium based, I am hoping it will be fine overall. I do soak them in water for a couple weeks, just in case they used any chemicals when they processed them for cleaning or cutting.
You can buy these tiles in boxes of 1 sq foot, which is 9 - 4" tiles for about $5 at either Lowes or HD. They also sell sheets of smaller tiles for borders that work well too, as they are already cut into approximately 1" pieces. If you get these you can pry them off the backing and soak them in water (fresh water) for a week or so and the glue they use on them will soften and you can peel it right off. Otherwise, buy the larger tiles and cut them to size, they cut easily with a tile saw if you happen to have access to one.
You can buy these tiles in boxes of 1 sq foot, which is 9 - 4" tiles for about $5 at either Lowes or HD. They also sell sheets of smaller tiles for borders that work well too, as they are already cut into approximately 1" pieces. If you get these you can pry them off the backing and soak them in water (fresh water) for a week or so and the glue they use on them will soften and you can peel it right off. Otherwise, buy the larger tiles and cut them to size, they cut easily with a tile saw if you happen to have access to one.
mskohl
Active member
I think the tile Paul was referring to was like the shower floor tiles. Mostly, his point was regarding shape and the growth pattern for zoathinds and other spreading corals. Having a hexagon (or octogon or whatever it was) allows for more sides to have contact with another tile for the coral cover and allows for easier separation.
Jschulte91
New member
Thank You all for the help with this, this is the first time I'm going to try fragging any thing. Your help is greatly appreciated.
JSchulte
JSchulte
BlackSumbel
New member
Plain, unglazed, ceramic works very, very, well for frag mounting as well as a lot of other aquatic applications.
Remember, ceramic is basically just very porous glass, and ceramic media is pretty common for filtration.
For those worried about particularly quick attachment, or the unnatural look... try applying a thin layer of silicone or superglue and rolling the frag plug in aragonite sand. Cure the sealant and then mount to the sand.
I'm getting into making plugs for nano-sized frags up to "generous" frags. Part of my process is going to be make them look a tad more natural by coloring the clay to begin with (this, by the way, will be absolutely tank safe. The color will readily match corraline algae, too). And/or rolling with aragonite.
Sadly, my problem isn't getting things to grow on frags, it's getting things to grow onto even a tiny speck of gravel so that I can mount the frags (I have quite a lot of unattached stuff).
Remember, ceramic is basically just very porous glass, and ceramic media is pretty common for filtration.
For those worried about particularly quick attachment, or the unnatural look... try applying a thin layer of silicone or superglue and rolling the frag plug in aragonite sand. Cure the sealant and then mount to the sand.
I'm getting into making plugs for nano-sized frags up to "generous" frags. Part of my process is going to be make them look a tad more natural by coloring the clay to begin with (this, by the way, will be absolutely tank safe. The color will readily match corraline algae, too). And/or rolling with aragonite.
Sadly, my problem isn't getting things to grow on frags, it's getting things to grow onto even a tiny speck of gravel so that I can mount the frags (I have quite a lot of unattached stuff).
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