Frag Stand

monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Here is my idea of a frag stand that would go into a standard 10 gallon tank.

This would be made of the same acrylic that the surround is made from on the grooming bus. It is 1/8 inch smoked acrylic. The design allows for this stand to be built without any glue so even the average reefer could put one of these together. I have a few questions and I am looking for input.
How far apart should the holes be for the plugs to allow proper flow through the frags?
How big are the holes needed to allow plugs to be placed into them?
ORA uses different plugs, so how big do those holes need to be?
What kind of spacing do the notches need to be to allow for room for growth without interference from the other shelf/top of the water?
Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/384758/frag-stand#post_3371780
Why not just look at Eshopps frag racks and see what their measurements are :)
Funny this comes up today, I am wondering if I should get a frag rack for growing out small frags a bit, or just go ahead and let them grow on the rock..anyway...
I have looked at the Eshopps racks and the reviews say sometimes the owners have to drill out the holes a bit larger for some types of frag plugs, so I would guess it would be better to go .5" Dia and drill out if larger need be later.
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
i have an eshopps rack laying around, and i refuse to use it because it cant hold alot of my frags. i would look into ocean wonders for a frag rack. i just purchased one and cant wait to get it in
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
LOL..NIKE....I have 4 little frags on my Eshopps right now....I don't have the room..OR the amount of frags you do....
I just meant he look at it for the hole spacing dimensions...so he can build his own
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikeSB http:///forum/thread/384758/frag-stand#post_3371786
i have an eshopps rack laying around, and i refuse to use it because it cant hold alot of my frags. i would look into ocean wonders for a frag rack. i just purchased one and cant wait to get it in
you mean this guy?

Now say you have zoa and acro frags at the same time. Would you need 2 racks, one higher up for the sps and the other low for the zoas?
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
i have a nano with a 6x24w ATI sunpower. It really doesnt matter where i place it because the par is 300+ everywhere. to account for this, i have the zoas near the edge away from the middle of the light and sps towards the edge closer to the middle of the light. besides lots of zoas can handle high light without bleaching. alot of zoas are found at a higher depth than SPS
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Gotcha, makes sense, my question comes from the perspective of a 30" tall tank.
Maybe we should quit jacking Monsinour's thread and answer his questions about hole spacing and such...
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
well i think monisour is thinking too much for a frag rack. most people just use eggcrate because its easy to move stuff around and can easily account for flow
1) i would think 3/4" to 1" would be fine for the spaces between holes
2) doing depends on what frag plugs you're thinking about, but egg crate frags racks use 3/4" holes
3) ORA frag plugs fit in 3/4" holes
4) smallest without sacrificiin structural strength
you may want to look into The Blue Glow. they make stackable units and might provide insight into what you're looking for
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
LOL...that frag rack looks like egg crate with mags on it
I think Monsi has acrylic left over from his van.....so he was wanting to use it (sorry if I am wrong Monsi) :)
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/384758/frag-stand#post_3371803
LOL...that frag rack looks like egg crate with mags on it
I think Monsi has acrylic left over from his van.....so he was wanting to use it (sorry if I am wrong Monsi) :)
That is 100% correct. We have about 2 full sheets (4'x8') left and needed a way to recoup the $ that was spent on it. Plans are to have the acrylic cut with the laser, package them up into the smallest USPS $4.95 box that they fit in and list them on an auction site.
So the holes should be more than a half and closer to 3/4? What if the holes were 5/8"?
I still need how far apart the holes should be for adaquite flow between the frags. I am thinking that the bottom rack should be 3.5" for the notch to allow for as big as a 2" sand bed and still have room for flow under it. But how far from the surface should the second shelf be? 3", 4"?
Hey Al, care to draw this out in CAD?
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
between holes, i'd aim for an inch for good flow. it would really depend on the set up of the user.
i think the second shelf should be a bit lower to 5", frags might bleach at that 3" if the users arent careful.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikeSB http:///forum/thread/384758/frag-stand#post_3371887
between holes, i'd aim for an inch for good flow. it would really depend on the set up of the user.
i think the second shelf should be a bit lower to 5", frags might bleach at that 3" if the users arent careful.
The bottom shelf is 3" from the bottom. So you think the top shelf should be 5" from the surface? That would mean the shelf would be installed 4" from the top of the legs leaving only an inch between the 2 shelves.
Maybe top shelf should be set at the 3" mark putting it 4" below the water's surface and the bottom shelf should be 3" from the base leaving 2" of clearance between the 2 shelves.
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
again it would really be up to the user to adjust it to their systems. someone could have pc's and it would be fine 1" under the surface lol
what height tank are you assuming this to be for?
BTW, did you check out "the blue glow"? maybe their designs might help you out a bit
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikeSB http:///forum/thread/384758/frag-stand#post_3371969
again it would really be up to the user to adjust it to their systems. someone could have pc's and it would be fine 1" under the surface lol
what height tank are you assuming this to be for?
BTW, did you check out "the blue glow"? maybe their designs might help you out a bit
Looked at that site a while ago and that is where the inspiration came from to do this. That and I could really use the $ right now. How about I have notches cut in the legs at each interval and allow the user to set it themselves? More flexability there, right?
Here is a mockup of a shelf. This is drawn to exact size so if you have some kind of quality picture editing software, you can see what it really looks like. The holes are 5/8" in diameter. The holes are 1" apart. The notches are 1/8" wide and 1/2" deep.

I will mock up the legs here in a second.
edit:
Here are the legs starting at the front and working towards the back.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Every frag rack I have looked at, not that many really, didnt have any kind of adjustableness to it. It was "buy more shelves with higher or lower legs" as opposed to adjustability. What is neat about this idea, if you have a bigger tank, say a 20 gallon instead of a 10 gallon, its just a matter of streching out the shelves and cutting different pieces on the laser.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I have been doing some thinking and was wondering what I should charge for this contraption. What would you pay for a frag stand like this? If you need a picture of it assembled, I am sure I can get one once the dimentions are finalized. Most frag stands that I have seen range from $80 - $90 for 4 tiers. I would go with half that and think that $40 is reasonable. Let me know if I am way off base.
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
thats a good range. from all the ones that have been given to me for review, yours probably has the best price ratio for frags yet
 
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