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Anyone use egg crate for simple aquaponics

4K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  JeffE 
#1 ·
Hi
Anyone use regular egg crate for simple aquaponics?

I just put it up yesterday because my hope is that the pothos grow right from the egg crate . If it works , I am going to add more egg crate but first have the pet store paint it black with some fish safe paint they use.

What has been everyone's results with egg crate?

Any other ideas , suggestions for a simple 'aquaponics' , other than plants in filter would be appreciated .

The 29 gallon tank is empty so no rush as far as seeing if it works but again any other ideas are great.

Right now tank is "lit' by open shade light but I do intend to put light over the pothos this coming week..

Thank you
 

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#2 ·
It's a bit harder to find, but there is black eggcrate available. If you have a plastics supplier near you, might be worth checking with them.

Otherwise, you should be able to spray paint it with the krylon fusion paint, but you would have to wait a week or so for it to fully cure before getting it wet.
 
#3 ·
It's a bit harder to find, but there is black eggcrate available. If you have a plastics supplier near you, might be worth checking with them.

Otherwise, you should be able to spray paint it with the krylon fusion paint, but you would have to wait a week or so for it to fully cure before getting it wet.
I had no idea they sold black egg crate ,I just found it online for $12 .

If I do not find it locally will order it .

The pet store said they would spray paint the egg crate with their fake reef paint but the cost is about the same for actual black egg crate (rather go with that).


Thank you
 
#4 ·
I never thought to look for prices online, but that sounds like a good deal (depending on shipping...). I think it runs ~$14ish for the standard white at the local home depot/lowe's. I'm not terribly up on current pricings and such, mostly because I haven't had many plans that called for it.

As for the painting, I would assume they are using krylon fusion or something similar. If you only have a small amount, it might be worth it cost/energy wise to go ahead and have them do it, but if you are looking at doing a fair amount, and don't mind the personal energy investment, might be worth picking up a can and trying it your self.

I recently bought a can of white krylon fusion for doing the inside of a hood. I think the spraypaint cost me ~$8, which isn't exactly cheap (especially for spraypaint...), but I figure it will work good enough as a reflector to maybe save me some money on a CFL bulb, and the spraypaint is a one-time investment.

and... back to topic, let us know what you end up doing, and pics would be greatly appreciated :) I'm not sure if there is anyone in the planted tank community who would want this, but, for those concerned, I've also seen egg-crate in a chrome-type finish... no clue how it holds up underwater, but I guess that's another possibility for those folk who may be interested. or something.

good luck with everything.
 
#5 ·
It works good in reef tanks and for frags and used often in the reef community. Careful with the black though. Mostly like it could be extruded plastic and if you have it submersed it will leech chemicals in your tanks.

I would be careful with using paint around your tank especially over it until it has dried and cured really well.
 
#6 ·
I'm pretty sure the manufacturing process for the black and white eggcrate is identical, they just use different colored resin. I imagine the process for the chrome ones might be a bit different, as I believe that's a coating.

I've never heard of extruded plastics containing harmful additives, and quite a few commonly used things are manufactured through extrusion. If you have some more info about this, I'd like to hear more about it.
 
#8 ·
If you ever want to paint your white eggscrate black i would use krylon fusion spraypaint. I have used it for standpipes in frag tanks for corals when i want to get rid of the bar codes on the standpipe. Just as someone said earlier let it cure for a long time. I do have an eggcrate as a hood for my 29 gallon tank. Here is a picture of it.

I originally did not have the opening in the eggcrate where the fixture was. But after making a cut into where the light comes out i found to get better results.
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
#11 ·
Get the black eggcrate. I had to paint these once at work long ago (used to cover the fluorescent lights in a drop ceiling). It was a serious pain to make sure you got good coverage in all the cells and we ended up using way more spray paint then we expected since 90% of the paint goes right through.

Probably wouldn't be too bad with a small piece, but if you are doing a whole panel it is irritating.
 
#13 ·
I never took any pics of it. I just had the plants bare root and stuffed them through the mesh. The roots hung down into the water. After I rinsed the roots and put them into the tank it didn't take the plants very long to adjust. A couple of days and they started to perk up again.
 
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