Has anyone ever seen a floating reef?

[LITTLEFISHEE]

Does anyone know where I can get surgical steel screws? I don't have any pictures of it, because I've never seen one. I would try to post a drawing, but I don't think it would make any sense.

 

Jandree22: shut up! my thread is just fine. The reason why I asked this question is because I've never seen one.

HENCE THE QUESTION: "HAS ANYONE EVER SEEN A FLOATING REEF?"

[Jandree22]

LittleFishee... lol, I'm sorry! haha, I found that pic and I couldn't resist!! Didn't really mean it....I WOULD like to see one of these reefs, but it's not like a big deal to me or whatever... forgive me?!

[Yup]

Just my 2 cents.......

 

What if you used a 1" drill bit, and drilled a hole in the bottom side of the rock. Then inserted a 1" wooden or plastic dowel or tube. Then attached that assembly(s) to a base( wood, or other flat material) that fit the entire bottom of your tank. Cover it with a sand bed for support and looks. This way you could suspend the rocks without worry of strings breaking, and you could put piles of smaller LR around the dowels (supports) to hide them and make it look natural. You would have your entire LR structure not floating, but appearing to be held up buy 3 or 4 small rock piles. I think with the right materials for the base, and supports, you could make very sturdy structure. Oh yeah, and a good deep sand bed.

I never thought of this before, but I does sound like a really cool idea for a tank.

[LITTLEFISHEE]

Jandree: I am sorry for being *****y, but I'm dying to make a floating reef.

 

Yup: That is basically what I had in mind. What I was thinking was that I could use 3 or 4 acrylic rods, and have the rock being held up by the rods and a flat acrylic tile. I was thinking of using caulerpa to hide the rods by tying it to them. I found a company that will sell me all the acrylic I need in a pluthera of sizes and shapes, I'd only have to cut it (no big deal). I don't want to suspend it, just elevate it. But all of this is useless, unless I can find a way to buy surgical steel screws to drill the acrylic together.

[Spencerx]

u can by stainless steel screws at HD or lowes..... i dont see why they wouldnt work...

[LITTLEFISHEE]

Well, I figured that the surgical steel would be perfect because they are implanted into a bag of saltwater all the time, and they last a lifetime! Don't you think stainless steel would rust over a few years time?

[CUNROE]

Surgical steel is Stainless steel just a different grade. I have 4 titanium screws, SS plate and SS wire in my Jaw. I thnik the grade they have at Lowes HD would rust over time. Actually in my FW tank I used SS screws from lowes the screw some driftwood together. They have been in there about 3 yrs and haven't rusted yet.

Anyway.. If you are going Acrylic to acrylic you can use some weldon glue that would be stronger than screws.

 

HTH,

Chris

[Yup]

Yeah, if using acrylic, glue it. It tends to fracture when you try to drill, or screw it.

Oh, and don't be sorry for anything.... I think it is a great idea, and may try the same if I do anouther bigger tank.

[LITTLEFISHEE]

Where can I get this glue? I just ordered $189 worth of acrylic for my project. It should be here in 2 or 3 weeks. I will post lots of pictures so the reefers lacking imagination can see how it's going to work. I am probably going to start construction in August. I will probably put this in my vacant 55 gallon. Not exactly nano-reef, but it's definately not traditional.

[katydidit]

??? so does the tank itself 'float' suspended by the ceiling or do the rocks just 'float' in the middle of the tank by something...

 

I envision this massive tank being held up by fishing wire, laying down below it and seeing nothing but sand and rock...then it falls, floods my house, and kills me.

 

Dont ask people, this is just my way of trying to figure something out man i wish i was normal sometimes

[CUNROE]

I'm not sure where to get the Weldon glue. I have heard that the places that sell acrylic also sell weldon.

 

Katydidit: the rocks are suspended in the tank even though a tank hanging from the ceiling would be a novel idea. those would be some big wires and have to have a pretty hefty ceiling joist also. unless your hangin' a 3.5 gal. I could see that thing falling and flodding my house.

[offsprg01]

anything steel will rust in salt water!

 

water+steel+oxygen= FeO3 aka rust!

 

salt+water+steel+oxygen= FeO3 aka rust! only much much faster.

 

stainless steel is only stainless for about 7 years. after which it rusts. in salty conditions it won't last anywhere near that long.

 

if you could find something like titanuim the go for it. but no steel. bad bad idea.

 

you could go for some sort of pegs.

 

step 1: drill hole in support pole.

 

step 2: insert smaller acrylic pole in to hole

 

step 3: weldon on glue it toget her.

 

 

step 4: cut hole in acrylic sheet big enough for support pole to go through.

 

setp 5: insert support pole.

 

step 6: weldon glue it.

 

setp 7 : repeat steps 1 thourh 6 two more time.

 

 

note: i'd only do three poles per sheet of acrylic would make it more stable as you can only have one plane between 3 points. (ie it wouldn't wobble becuase no fourth leg. three legs don't wobble if they aren't exactly the same length. 4 will.)

[tinyreef]

use plastic cable ties. easy and cheap.

 

nilsen and fossa showed some aquaculturing pics in one of their books which is readily translated into this floating concept imo.

[katydidit]

ITS ALL SO CLEAR TO ME NOW. That would be kinda cool, i have to admit (now that i undertand 20 posts later what the **** you all were talking about).

Im determined now to be the first person on the planet who has a literally 'floating tank' hehe. Im gonna make a custom 3 gallon cube and hang it from the ceiling, how bad @$$ would that be? come on ya'll i know you are dying to try it yourselves

[CUNROE]

Offspring

stainless steel is only stainless for about 7 years. after which it rusts. in salty conditions it won't last anywhere near that long.

 

So are you saying that the Stainless steel inside my body is rusting? The surgeon never said anything about this.

[Dustin]

I think you could hang a 2.5, just make a little platform for it and voila

[offsprg01]

sorry to laugh bro but i just had this mental image of your jaw like rusting up tight. :X

 

but no dude. sorry about the confusion. i don't think the stainless steel will rust inside your body.

 

i do know that stainless seet WILL rust it just takes longer that normal steel. from what i understand, stainless steel is only good for about 7 years in wet locations. then it begins to rust. salt water causes even more rust than fresh water. so anything steel will rust in a salt water auqarium. this is why MOST impellers and pumps are made from plastic. atleast the parts exposed to the water.

[CUNROE]

It s all cool I knew what ya ment It was just the way you phrased it, it sounded like my jaw was going to rust. I'm in a strange mood today and couldn't resist bustin that one out. Besides I had surgery 15 yrs ago so if it was gonna rust I think I would been spittin brown luggies.

 

There are differnt grades of stainless and I can't recall right now but I remember seeing a SS grade (304 maybe) that will never rust but it was something like $200 LF for 1/2" rod. Anything that is found in a harware store will rust eventually. I wouldn't put anything metal in a salty tank to scary. Might kill corals..

 

Chris

[LITTLEFISHEE]

Yup said that acrylic could fracture when you drill it. I wouldn't know since I've never drilled acrylic. I ordered extra, but not that much. If I can find the weldon glue, do you think it would be strong enough to support the structure for a few years?

[Spencerx]

yes it would be able to, it actually melts the acrylic so that its not actually "glued" like glass tanks are. It would probally last longer than you would want your reef for....

[LITTLEFISHEE]

I just got the weld on today. Thanks to everyone for their help!