Black Eggcrate

[nauti1us]

Wondering if anyone here has been able to find black eggcrate..?

I did find a source at Modern Plastics but you have to have an account and a minimum $100 purchase...

Any help would be appreciated.

[dugg]

A can of black Krylon fusion paint will do the trick.

[thor32766]

dugg is correct. I used the krylon fusion for my closed loop pvc and return pvc and works great. Its made to bond to plastice.

[mrcrab]

Any particular reason you're looking for black?

I'm looking for acrylic eggcrate as opposed to the syrene purchased at most home stores. The acrylic comes in black and is more expensive than the styrene. I'm having some HA issues in my sump and have read that the styrene might be the cause. Let me know if you find anything especially the acrylic. Maybe we can go in together on an order.

[tricky]

I found a small shop on Acme Street just west of Rio Grand, just south of the Citrus Bowl that supplies lighting diffusers exclusively. It has been a few years ago, but I bought the white acrylic eggcrate for about $20. I am sure he can get black if it is available.
I agree with mrcrab that acrylic is far superior for what we use it for. It is much stronger and cuts easier than styrene. One thing I liked about it when we used the sprinkler strainers for frag mounts is that the holes are slightly smaller and held the strainers without falling through.

Rick

[mrcrab]

Cool Rick,

You don't happen to remember the name of the place?

[nauti1us]

Originally posted by mrcrab
Any particular reason you're looking for black?

Oddly, I'm actually going to use it as a light diffusor as opposed to "wet" filter media... I have white egg crate on top of a 40 L that has bright T5 lights on top. The crate keeps fish from jumping out. It's a very shallow tank. I'd like to minimize the light reflection bouncing off the top of the egg crate and further illuminating the room.


Rick, do you remember the name of the store..?

[tricky]

No, but I need some more myself. Acme Street is only a block or two long. When you turn on to Acme from Rio Grande, it is on the right hand side of the road about halfway down. It is a small industrial area, should not be hard to find.

[mrcrab]

No preblem, I'm just in Ormond Beach so it's a bit of a hick to go on a goose chase. I'll see if I can find it in the phone book.

[MitchReef]

Hey Matt, have you considered a lid from the plastic quarter round covered with veil mesh? I made one for my 29 and it worked outstanding....I am going to do different ones for my 75 when I set it up....They allow perfect unobstructed light and air flow, but nip the flying fish in the bud.....The eggcrate tends to channel the light and actually shade a portion of it just by the nature of the "blades" making it up being perpendicular to the water surface. The mesh doesn't do that....

[davy182]

you can get an adjustable frame for screen just snaps together and the screen is cut to fit.

[nauti1us]

Originally posted by MitchReef
Hey Matt, have you considered a lid from the plastic quarter round covered with veil mesh?

I'm not familiar with the terminology plastic quarter round..? Do you have a pic or is there another way to describe it..?

Thanks

[mrcrab]

I didn't even think of that but I've seen folks do what Dave suggested. You can buy the frames, powder coated aluminum, for screened windows and cut them to size at any HD or Lowes. They have plastic pieces that slide into the ends for corner pieces then just put the screen in. That way you won't be reflecting any light away from the tank.

[MitchReef]

Now the Powder coated screen frame is a GREAT idea. The Quarter Round I was talking about is the regular quarter round molding that is often set at the edge of floor to wall in your house. The "primed" or "pre finished" ones are actually made of plastic and covered with a paper for the primed nature. It is simply water soaked for a couple days to get the paper covering off, mitre cut to fit, epoxied together and boom....there is a frame that fits down into te tank top molding....for pennies!!!

I can dig up a pic of mine if you would like....I posted it up on the SITC site back when I made it....my 3 fish are all so tame now that I don't even have it on any more. They know where the food comes from!

[davy182]

you can even find clear plastic screen as well

[MitchReef]

Cool.....that's good to know.....I will have to look at the price of the aluminum screen frames when I do my next ones....I'm kind of afraid of aluminum in the spray though....a little salt and that's it....even the powder coated or anodized ones will have cut ends....I just don't like the idea of aluminum salts in my reef....I will probably just go back to my trusty quarter round....it ends up looking so very good....hey davy, where do you get clear screen fabric?

[davy182]

i don't recall off hand but i think it is a special order item