Mr. Fosi Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 If yawnt to. I painted my overflow with krylon and I have no complaints. Link to comment
slippy steve Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I krylon'd a white bulkhead from Lowes. Covered in coralline and everything is very happy! Link to comment
Kraylen Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 See.. sometimes Kraylen is correct. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Interesting discussion. I was just thinking about getting some eggcrate because I have a large order of SPS frags coming, and I'm still not 100% I can trust that things on the rocks (mainly hydroids) will grow and sting the frags. Link to comment
w1dude Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 No suggestions on where to buy NOT in bulk? No such thing... Find sum1 one who has extra Link to comment
gurnie Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 I gave up and used the regular 'ol lowes eggcrate, soaked it in bleach, the soeaked it in de-chlorinated tap water, dried it and sprayed 3 layers of black krylon fusion on the stuff. i'm making a rock wall. will report back with results Link to comment
BaconLuver Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 omg..this explains so much. brand new frag tank with only NEW egg crate and NEW live sand, no live rocks. HUGE outbreak of GHA with no feedings...wtf? and yes, very slimy surface water. LOWE'S egg crate FTMFW! Link to comment
Mike Maddox Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Eggcrate may or may not be a favorable attachment location, but excess dissolved nutrients "cause" unwanted algal blooms. I doubt that the eggcrate is leeching anything organically usable, but I could be wrong. Btw, even freshly mixed seawater will have nitrates and ortho-phosphates from tapwater if not filtered first. Link to comment
skydive Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 omg..this explains so much. brand new frag tank with only NEW egg crate and NEW live sand, no live rocks. HUGE outbreak of GHA with no feedings...wtf? and yes, very slimy surface water. LOWE'S egg crate FTMFW! You probably have something else causing the GHA, its snot algae that's growing on the egg crate. Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 I've always used styrene eggcrate, and never had issues with snot algae. Link to comment
ChouDawg Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Hmm well an update on my frag rack. After adding a few Astrea and Cerith snails, no more algae on my frag rack its super white like brand new, I give credit to the snails, no "snot algae" anywhere else either.. Link to comment
got2envy Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Hmmm I made my foam/rockwall outta eggcrate and don't have any snot to be seen, but I did use a old batch I had laying around to make a DIY frag rack and there was snotz for a few days then it disappeared Link to comment
nanoreef11 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 anyone else with a problem purchase elsewhere? Not all eggcrates are made the same. Going to be honest, this thread freaked me out at first glance This is exactly what is happening to my media rack I bought from you! The chaeto is constantly cover in a red/purple slime algae and I couldn't figure it out. I guess I need to pull the white egg crate out and put some black egg crate in there. I'm glad that I found this thread. Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 hmm....is this a bad case of the diatoms? Diatoms can get pretty nasty before you say no. When they spread out in a new tank with all new stuff it is different than in our initial cycle. Here is my thoughts, hopefully Fosi will show up and explain how the science wouldn't work or would etc... Ok so you have this eggcrate - it is exposed to air, handling, shipping etc... Because of this you have bio-available silica on it. That much should be true, any new plastic that goes into a tank causes this unless properly rinsed. But when you krylon it you seal in the silica so it doesn't cause the problem...? Sometimes the exposure isn't so much so some of you don't notice it as much? The eggcrate itself can't be doing it, it would be pitting and corroding right? Any pics of this snot algae? I got a new field guide in, WOW, cyano bateria must come in like 1000 different shapes and flavors. This book alone has like 15 different forms of the nuisance. I honestly believe different forms of cyano are what we call hair algae most the time, I wish I could just post some pics, all copyrighted.... If you saw these pics you would probably agree. Wondering if it might be that stuff.... Link to comment
yardboy Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Really, this problem has been around for a long time. I remember reading about it quite a few years ago on another forum. If you google "mold releasing agents" you'll find that they use all sorts of chemicals to keep the plastic parts from sticking to the mold it's shaped in. I can imagine that this would be a big problem with eggcrate. Since there are so many different kinds of releasing agents, I suspect that they use different ones at different times. We used to think that they were using some phosphate based agents, thus fertilizing the growth of algae, and indeed, at one time hair algae was a problem. But this new stuff, and johnmaloney I think you are right, it is probably cyanobacteria of some sort as it's quite amorphous and doesn't cling to the eggcrate very tightly and is very slimy when you pull it out, is probably the result of using some of the weirder releasing agents that are out now (polyvinyl alcohol derivatives, etc.) What I find odd is that when a friend bought a piece from some local store and gave me the leftover, I built a rack with it and immediately, within a day, started seeing this light tan "snot" forming on it that I'd never had before. Even after removing the eggcrate (and it was very obvious that it was the source) bits of it broke off and it ended up starting to grow in other areas. It'd get caught in the branches of sps frags and smother them if not dealt with quickly. It took me a while to get rid of it, cleaning it out, water changes, brushing it off rocks. I cleaned, bleached, and sprayed with vinegar the offending rack, and the "snot" didn't come back, but I also left it out in the weather for a month before trying to reuse it, so not sure what all worked to keep it from growing back. Link to comment
Professor Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Anyone who takes something that is exposed in a store and places it into their tank without washing or rinsing is asking for trouble in my opinion. Eggcrate is a perfect example. Not only are there possible residual materials on it from the manufacturing process but it could have been exposed to other things laying exposed on the shelf at the store. Everything from cleaning agents to pesticides to keep the store bug free could have settled on what you are buying. While I don't doubt that there is a difference between styrene vs acrylic eggcrate, there are other aspects of potential contamination that need to be examined as well. I wash all my eggcrate and pvc that I get from my local Lowe's or Ace. No problems to date. Just my .02. -Prof Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 wow you guys know a lot about plastic. damn you prof! I will never feel safe about a bucket again. Everything from cleaning agents to pesticides to keep the store bug free could have settled on what you are buying. Really you had to do that? As if the stress wasn't enough? Good point, I have been slacking on things that touch things that go into my tank. Link to comment
Professor Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I hear you John. All I am trying to say is that the evidence that the eggcrate itself is the problem seems to be anecdotal. I would guess that the cause of the algae is residuals left from manufacturing or other contaminants from the store/warehouse it was languishing in before being bought. It seems in all cases that I have read re: this issue that a good cleaning mitigates the problem. An ounce of prevention and all that jazz... -Prof Link to comment
Daemonfly Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I had algae issue with my 20g long frag tank. Was doing perfectly fine without eggcrate, added eggcrate, almost immediately (i.e. within the week), had algae issues. Not snot algae, but some type of fuzzy hair algae. Removed eggcrate, algae problems went away. Nothing else was changed within this time frame, nor any frags added. Soaked the eggcrate in some fw for a while, put it back in, no issues now. Definitely not a scientific method, but thats the results, and you can pull your own conclusions from it. This was the cheapo white eggcrate from Home Depot. Link to comment
CowboyRWN Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I hear you John. All I am trying to say is that the evidence that the eggcrate itself is the problem seems to be anecdotal. I would guess that the cause of the algae is residuals left from manufacturing or other contaminants from the store/warehouse it was languishing in before being bought. It seems in all cases that I have read re: this issue that a good cleaning mitigates the problem. An ounce of prevention and all that jazz...-Prof I agree, but..... The lubricant they add to the PS is usually mineral oil, which should not cause a problem. However, one of the mold releases they can use is Lecithin based which contains lots of phophorous. Some of the UV stabilizers they need to use on PS can be phosphorous based, specifically phosphine compounds. Moral of the story, wash your stuff and use acrylic if you can find it. The amount of anything leaching out of plastic is a function of time and temp. A shipping container coming from China gets hot and it is a long boat ride. Another scary thing is the plasticizer they use to make flexible PVC plastic tubing is phosphorous based and is well known to leach out of the plastic. They are banning this plasticizer(DEHP) in kids toys. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 ^^^Wouldn't this have some scary implications for those who use flexible PVC for plumbing on their systems??? What about regular PVC plumbing? Do we need to be doing this kind of rinsing/washing in vinegar and bleach for all plastic plumbing parts we use? That particular thought had never occurred to me. I'm just getting ready to plumb a display to a sump though, so this is very relevant to me. Link to comment
Professor Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 ^^^Wouldn't this have some scary implications for those who use flexible PVC for plumbing on their systems??? What about regular PVC plumbing? Do we need to be doing this kind of rinsing/washing in vinegar and bleach for all plastic plumbing parts we use? That particular thought had never occurred to me. I'm just getting ready to plumb a display to a sump though, so this is very relevant to me. Personally, I think that the vinegar and bleach treatments are overkill. I just wash my stuff in hot soapy water and then make sure it is rinsed real well and then airdried. I have never used flexible PVC so I can't speak to that. The little bit of research that I have done indicates that potential toxicity and contaminants are mostly related to more flexible or soft (like kids toys, shower curtains, etc.) applications of PVCs. This is secondary to the use of plasticizers to make the material more malleable. Leaching and outgassing of these materials has been proven and can affect fish and invertebrates. I should not think this is a problem with rigid PVC pipe. PVC has been used in reefs for years, without any proof of detrimental effects. I think I am going to look into this some more. Maybe CPVC is an option? -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 What is CPVC? Chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) is a thermoplastic produced by chlorination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. Uses include hot and cold water pipe, and industrial liquid handling. You can find it at Lowes. It looks like PVC but is typically a tan color. Most all of the usual fittings can be found for it. Not as thick as schedule 40 PVC. It is purported to be non-toxic. -Prof Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.