Frag Rack - Egg crate on PVC

[Blasto Girl]

I'm starting up my first LPS frag tank (used 20g Innovative Marine Fusion - shallow tank). I have decided to go bare bottom with black egg crate on pvc pipe (not tiered). I want to make sure I can reach the bottom for siphoning water changes and also maximize the number of frags I can place.

How do I place/size the egg crate to make water changes easy without knocking / moving the rack or frags.

Any ideas and photos on a simple size/layout for the egg crate would be appreciated. I may also add a some smaller pieces of live rock from my main tank.

Dimensions of the tank are approx. 24" Long, 12" Wide and 12" deep.

 

[BlacknBlue2]

your going to have to move them at some point. so make them moveable.

 

[143MPCo]

I'm not sure I understand what you are looking for - are you asking how to cut and mount the egg-crate to PVC?

 

[tankstudy]

In the past, I put hole(s) in the center of the egg crate, large enough for my siphoning device, so I can swivel it around to siphon the bottom of the tank. Depending on the height of your rack will determine how big your hole will need to be. Its not perfect but it worked for me.

 

[Blasto Girl]

I'm not sure I understand what you are looking for - are you asking how to cut and mount the egg-crate to PVC?

I am trying to figure out how to get the siphoning device underneath the egg crate. I like the idea of having a hole in the center to get the siphon in. Any other ideas appreciated. I assume I should also have a gap between the egg create and the edge of the tank for glass cleaning purposes as well and can siphon around it but I couldn't picture how to clean directly underneath. Sorry for my simple questions - it's my first and I'm trying to figure out the best approach.

 

[-Logzor]

Are you tiering the egg-crate to allow for more frag capacity?

Every time I use egg-crate in my frag/QT system, it tends to be an algae magnet. I'm rebuilding it so my frags will just sit on the bottom glass.

In my current setup, I have egg-crate on a PVC stand. It's about 4 inches less in width and length than the actual aquarium, so I can push it forward or sideways to siphon.

 

[reefhobby]

Put a power head under it

 

[BlacknBlue2]

Or use frag disks instead of plugs.

 

[143MPCo]

I am trying to figure out how to get the siphoning device underneath the egg crate. I like the idea of having a hole in the center to get the siphon in. Any other ideas appreciated. I assume I should also have a gap between the egg create and the edge of the tank for glass cleaning purposes as well and can siphon around it but I couldn't picture how to clean directly underneath. Sorry for my simple questions - it's my first and I'm trying to figure out the best approach.

...power-heads are a good option to keep the water under the egg-crate moving and particulates suspended in the water column thus allowing them to be removed by an over-flow. Additionally allowing enough space under the egg-crate with ported PVC legs will help IF you need to siphon anything out... and as already noted above leaving enough space around the inner circumference of the tank is a good idea for cleaning the glass, you can also use two or more sections of mounted egg crate, as that will allows you to move frags over to one of the others if you need to remove one for whatever reason.

 

[Blasto Girl]

...power-heads are a good option to keep the water under the egg-crate moving and particulates suspended in the water column thus allowing them to be removed by an over-flow. Additionally allowing enough space under the egg-crate with ported PVC legs will help IF you need to siphon anything out... and as already noted above leaving enough space around the inner circumference of the tank is a good idea for cleaning the glass, you can also use two or more sections of mounted egg crate, as that will allows you to move frags over to one of the others if you need to remove one for whatever reason.

Excellent - thanks - completely makes sense. Similar to my main tank although I have never had a bare bottom tank before.

I have two small power heads so water movement should be good and an overflow to catch the debris which is perfect. Would I place one below the frag rack level and one above (on opposite end)?

 

[143MPCo]

Excellent - thanks - completely makes sense. Similar to my main tank although I have never had a bare bottom tank before.

I have two small power heads so water movement should be good and an overflow to catch the debris which is perfect. Would I place one below the frag rack level and one above (on opposite end)?

yes, but you will have to play around with proper placement so as to maximise the powerheads ability to move enough water and thus enough "debris" also keep in mind that the sizes (flow-rate) of the powerhead will be the bottleneck in it's ability to keep the particulates suspended.