Egg Crate problems

[rickh]

I can't fine any "good" egg crate. Everything at Lowe's, Home Depot and Menard's is only about 1/2 as thick as the old standard stuff I have used before. This reduced thickness is probably better for lighting, but I want to use it to support the rock work. R

[LostinTime]

Try what I did.....

I took two pieces and locked them together using 1.5 inch plumbing adapters. (Cut out 3x3 squares). Works great.

[howdy777]

that stuff is plenty strong

[rickh]

Thanks for the info.

[pescadero]

i bought some of the "Lithonia" eggcrate last night at HD. i was disappointed that it was so thin, especially since it cost 13 bucks. i was also expecting it to be twice as thick.

anybody know where to get the thicker stuff?

[OceansWonders]

You can do a search online and should be able to find it. Modernplastics is a good place to start.

[rickh]

Originally posted by OceansWonders
You can do a search online and should be able to find it. Modernplastics is a good place to start.

Unless you want silver--they also only have 3/8".
What the world coming to?

[coralnut99]

Originally posted by rickh
Unless you want silver--they also only have 3/8".
What the world coming to?

Bromide in Dowflake, bad Salifert Kh kits, now thin eggcrate. It's as though the world doesn't know the lunatics behind this hobby might get pushed over the edge and take revenge, lol!

[madadi]

MD next to me doesn't even carry egg crate at all anymore. it went from the good stuff to the thiner one and now none at all.

[madadi]

MD=HD

[FunkieReefJunkie]

Here is an example of a product that doesn't get as much use for what it was originally designed to do. Then the manufacture discovers reefers use it and they know we will pay through the nose for anything. And sure enough it gets phased out from places like HD. It happened with southdown play sand and of course the dow flake. My stance now is if I ever find a non-reef keeping product that works in the reef aquarium I no longer share this information on forums. If business people want to screw me three ways from Sunday then I'm not going to guide them towards how to do it. This goes against my innate nature to help people, but if helping others means suddenly I've got to pay 10x's as much for a product a year from now then that's the way it has to be.

[rickh]

Originally posted by FunkieReefJunkie
Here is an example of a product that doesn't get as much use for what it was originally designed to do. Then the manufacture discovers reefers use it and they know we will pay through the nose for anything. And sure enough it gets phased out from places like HD. It happened with southdown play sand and of course the dow flake. My stance now is if I ever find a non-reef keeping product that works in the reef aquarium I no longer share this information on forums. If business people want to screw me three ways from Sunday then I'm not going to guide them towards how to do it. This goes against my innate nature to help people, but if helping others means suddenly I've got to pay 10x's as much for a product a year from now then that's the way it has to be.

OK.
I really doubt that the egg crate manufactures are out to rip off the hobbyists. The total amount of egg crate sold for aquarium usage is probably a fraction of a fraction of one percent. For it's intended usage the "new" egg crate works great and saves petroleum. R

[pescadero]

Here's what's happening at Home Depot. The CEO appears on the stock channel and he says that because the market is now saturated with HD stores, their plan to increase revenue growth is through "improved sales margins." Translation: price hikes. That's why we're paying $12.88 for a piece of plastic grating at Home Depot. They're increasing the "margins" on all of their products to maintain corporate profits.

They're also contracting with the manufacturer to make the HD model of eggcrate sheets half as thick as it used to be, to keep their materials cost down.

HD is working the deal at both ends by cheapening the product and charging more for it. No surprises there.

Does anyone know of a reasonable alternate source for the light grating?

[RyanBrucks]

I too would really like to know where to find the thicker stuff. a couple weeks ago I spent alot of time searching and wasn't able to find anything that gave information on thickness, so I wouldn't know if I'd be getting the same thin crap or not.

I bought my eggcrate at lowes, and its the same super-thin crap that you guys are finding at HD. I could easily break the stuff with 2 fingers, so its pretty much useless for aquascaping of any kind IMO.

i did find modern plastics which had them, but that website has a $100 dollar minimum order. I've ordered from them before (got translucent blue acrylic for a lightbox), and yes, I had to pad my cheap order with a bunch of accessory crap that I ddin't really need in order to make the 100 dollar minimum. Not really willing to do that for $15 dollar eggcrate.

but more than that, there appears to be no way to tell which eggcrate is thin or thick based on the info provided online. even the modernplastics website does not assure me I'm getting the thicker eggcrate, how are you guys deducing that?

[rickh]

Originally posted by RyanBrucks
I too would really like to know where to find the thicker stuff. a couple weeks ago I spent alot of time searching and wasn't able to find anything that gave information on thickness, so I wouldn't know if I'd be getting the same thin crap or not.

I bought my eggcrate at lowes, and its the same super-thin crap that you guys are finding at HD. I could easily break the stuff with 2 fingers, so its pretty much useless for aquascaping of any kind IMO.

i did find modern plastics which had them, but that website has a $100 dollar minimum order. I've ordered from them before (got translucent blue acrylic for a lightbox), and yes, I had to pad my cheap order with a bunch of accessory crap that I ddin't really need in order to make the 100 dollar minimum. Not really willing to do that for $15 dollar eggcrate.






but more than that, there appears to be no way to tell which eggcrate is thin or thick based on the info provided online. even the modernplastics website does not assure me I'm getting the thicker eggcrate, how are you guys deducing that?

Try this link. R

http://www.modernplastics.com/eggcra...71ba235a7a7285

[pescadero]

hmmm. thickness of that part at modern plastics is only 3/8". that's not any better than the stuff at Home Despot.

i guess i'm going to have to start looking at commercial lighting stores to find a higher quality product. i can't think of anywhere else to go.

[pescadero]

oh man -- the search for manufacturers on thomas.net isn't looking very good. everyone seems to be making eggcrate in thicknesses of 3/8", 1/2", or 9/16".

http://www.thomasnet.com/products/li...4820306-1.html

[RyanBrucks]

what dimension is that thickness measuring? the depth of the eggcrate?

I thought the thicker stuff was not 'deeper' (aka, if you lay it flat on the ground, thicker would be taller), I thought thicker meant that the thin part of each plastic strip was 'fatter'. The stuff I have from lowes looks like 1/16". Why isn't that the important dimension?

[pescadero]

yeah, measurements can be confusing if we're not all using the same convention to describe them.

I still have the sticker on the Lithonia Lighting product that I bought last night at Home Depot. It lists the dimensions as follows:

L=45.84" W=21.88" H=.375"

what I was referring to as "thickness" probably should have been referred to as "height." i don't know if the other manufacturers used the same naming convention or not. i seem to remember some of them calling it "thickness," but then some of them may have been referring to the 1/16" dimension you're referring to as "strut thickness" or something similar.

i think that this stuff is way too flimsy for use as a backplane for supporting the weight of live rock. i'm planning on cutting it to fit across my tank bottom, for the purpose of providing some shock diffusion should something fall over in the tank. for aquascaping, i think i'll have to go with a skeleton made from half-inch PVC pipe.

[pescadero]

Originally posted by LostinTime
Try what I did.....

I took two pieces and locked them together using 1.5 inch plumbing adapters. (Cut out 3x3 squares). Works great.

i'm not quite sure what you're describing. could you elaborate? thanks.

[LostinTime]

Take two pieces of eggcrate that is identical in size (and shape).. Take and cut the gridwork of a 3 square by 3 square in identical places of each sheet of eggcrate. (In other words cut out a tic-tac-toe grid.)(Be sure and not cut too close to the outer edge of the eggcrate.) Depending on how big overall of piece of eggcrate will determine how many of these that you will do. (I personally try to balance mine out ....usually 5 or 6 adapters per section of eggcrate sometimes less sometimes more just balance it out....The more you use-- the stronger it will be.)

The 3 x 3 is perfect size for a 1.5 inch plumbing adapter (pvc #104) Which is threaded on one side only with a screw on cap. Slide the eggcrate on the threaded portion and then screw the cap on. This locks the eggcrate together. Repeat process for each adapter. The double thickness gives you approximately four times the strength. Also works great for creating a plenum as the non screw side of the plumbing adapters are approximately 1 inch thick. (Also they wont move like using pvc pipe will when used for making plenums.)

Hope this helps. The pvc plumbing adapters are approximately 84 cents a piece at Lowes.

[RyanBrucks]

lost, how much does the plumbing adapter stick off the back of the double-crate?

I am wanting to have eggcrate rockstructures where the eggcrate will rest directly on my corner overflows with no gap, wouldn't this method give me a gap there?

tiggsy (from the thread about using eggcrate, base rock, foam, and resin+crushed coral) reported using some kind of stronger black eggcrate that he said he wan't able to break with his arms, but when I asked where he might have got it, nobody responded.

[LostinTime]

I'm not sure if I'm following you in regards to the corner overflow usage.

But I don't think you'd have a problem. The adapters dont have to be at the edge, if that is a problem.They could be 12 inches in from the edge if needed. You can place them where you want them. Just try to balance them over the whole sheet oif eggcrate.

In my usage, I'm using mine for the purposes of 1) Creating a plenum, 2) to hold the screening material securely...material is just laid between two sheets before locking them together for my RUGF, 3) to support the rock work, 4) to protect the bottom of my tank, and 5) to make the eggcrate stronger. ( I actually have two layers of two sandwiched eggcrate sections in my tank with the adapters flipped opposite and set offset in each layer....The bigger side of the adapters make good supports for both the eggcrate and the rocks)

As previously mentioned the non threaded end is approximately 0ne inch thick. The side with the screw on cap will be approximately one half inch above the eggcrate with the cap on inclusive.

[RyanBrucks]

this link should help clarify what I mean with covering the back overflows:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1188352&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

Basically the back of the eggcrate would be meant to rest directly on the overflows (or back of the tank in some applications).

it would be designed to have its own supporting base though, so that no pressure is being put on the walls/overflows of the tank.

[coralnut99]

Originally posted by pescadero
oh man -- the search for manufacturers on thomas.net isn't looking very good. everyone seems to be making eggcrate in thicknesses of 3/8", 1/2", or 9/16".

http://www.thomasnet.com/products/li...4820306-1.html

Those dimensions may be the size of the square openings in the grid itself. They all don't have the same size.

One of the other popular uses for eggcrate has been to cover tanks inhabited by notorious carpetsurfers like anthias and wrasses. The drawback being that the eggcrate, if installed properly intensifies light downward, but minimizes its' dispersal over the surface of the tank.

If this stuff is actually that much thinner, I'm wondering if that would help improve the dispersal issue?

Anybody install the thinner stuff as a "carpetsurfer guard" and note lighting impaact?