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The DIY Frag plugs/disks/rocks thread.


Daemonfly

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  • 5 weeks later...
theimpulsive1
I have personally seen the ones The AquaDen uses from TheFilterguys.com and they RAWK !

Top quality plugs.

 

 

 

TheFilterguys.com

 

honestly the plugs from these guys are great! cheap, no need to soak em and the owners are stand up guys ( I overpayed on shipping so they refunded me the extra 5 dollars). A+++

Edited by theimpulsive1
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  • 3 weeks later...
AcroporaLokani

Here's how i make mine. I use regular s type cement for them.

 

 

I used dixie cups to form these ones.

 

img5144ma6.jpg

 

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img5126uz8.jpg

 

For these ones i spread out cement on a trash bag and used a piece of PVC as a "cookie cutter".

 

img5251ak5.jpg

 

img5259kl9.jpg

 

Heres both of them on some egg crate so you have an idea of the size of the two.

 

img5278is8.jpg

 

As for curing i soak them in distilled white vinegar for 48 hour and then i soak them in fresh water for 24 hours to make sure all the vinegar is removed.

 

Heres some pink stylo, white montipora and green candy cane frags

 

img5249lb1.jpg

 

Heres another pick of the candy canes.

 

img5206ca6.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
AcroporaLokani
How does the cement disks affect pH?

 

So far not at all, I do add a PH supplement that keeps it at 8.3 or 8.4. And if you think about it even if i did add sand to the mix i would still be adding cured cement to the water.

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  • 2 months later...
So far not at all, I do add a PH supplement that keeps it at 8.3 or 8.4. And if you think about it even if i did add sand to the mix i would still be adding cured cement to the water.

Acro I am going to try your idea. How many of the PVC sized ones do you think an eighty pound bag would make?

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  • 2 weeks later...
AcroporaLokani
Acro I am going to try your idea. How many of the PVC sized ones do you think an eighty pound bag would make?

 

Thousands upon thousands, I didnt even use 3 pounds of it to make all of the frag plugs (cookie cut frag plugs and the dixie cup frag plugs). If you used the whole bag you would have frag plugs for life!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Thousands upon thousands, I didnt even use 3 pounds of it to make all of the frag plugs (cookie cut frag plugs and the dixie cup frag plugs). If you used the whole bag you would have frag plugs for life!

Awsome thank you.

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Out there, somewhere, is a man with an Optimus Prime head covered in orange zoos.

 

 

OMG thats fraging hilarious, I havnt laughed that hard in a long time

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i use the free marble tile samples from the hardware store. i just grab a boatload, soak em in my sw curing tank and just pop some frags on em. within a few months they get covered in coralline and work great. the tile names printed on them even help me id when the frags were made :lol:

 

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Edited by Eole00
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i use the free marble tile samples from the hardware store. i just grab a boatload, soak em in my sw curing tank and just pop some frags on em. within a few months they get covered in coralline and work great. the tile names printed on them even help me id when the frags were made :lol:

lol

 

awesome idea!

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  • 1 month later...

I just made ~120 plugs in about 30 minutes using acroporalokani's s-type cement idea, small dixie cups and large dixie cups, probably used about 3 lbs of an 80lb bag

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  • 3 weeks later...

More updates with no pics!!!!

 

I have half of the new racks made, which means half the frag tank is final, and the other half temporary concerning racks...

 

I made about 20 frags, mostly monti caps, digitata, and some green confusa, oh and a white w/ purple polyps monti, hopefully saving the strain thats been getting harrased by red algae.. .

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glass beads work well without causing any param issues IMO.

 

Theyre small, and get covered fast... not to mention theyre way cooler looking that frag plugs IMO.

 

Just be sure if you go fancy beads, you dont get any that are fumed... a fumed piece of glass has silver/gold/cobalt burned into the glass and might release some harmful stuff.

 

 

Vote = Borosilicate

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  • 2 weeks later...
AcroporaLokani
I just made ~120 plugs in about 30 minutes using acroporalokani's s-type cement idea, small dixie cups and large dixie cups, probably used about 3 lbs of an 80lb bag

 

How did they turn out?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
How did they turn out?

 

 

So far so good, a couple were a little crumbly, but I think that was the water/cement mixture. I'm in the process of getting a 10g tank up and running with which I'll do water changes from the frag setup into this 10G to make sure the frags are good to go when I need them, 10g complete w/ chaeto, and two hob filters..

 

 

I've probably made about 20-30 frags so far, and getting ready to make my second batch of discs... we'll see how they turn out

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Unfortunately those frag discs did something fierce on my tank and sucked alk and dropped the pH, lost a bunch of frags(the mother colonies are in my show tank, no real loss there). Mostly lost time, but will be sticking with Boston Aqua Farms reef plugs and discs from now on, as my primary buyer, a reef store in CO, is moving to solelyl BAF Plugs and discs as well, and makes it an easy choice for them.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
ya DIY does feel good... but in this case i would say just go buy the damn things and stop inhaling cement dust....:unsure:

 

Yeah, I quit with the cement

 

My Local reef store started carrying Boston Aqua Farms plugs and discs. Since I trade w/ them to the tune of about ~$150 a month, I usually pick up three or four 20ct bags at a time.. for cost :P

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