BeardUp Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 I accidently fragged (broke with my fat hand) my hammer coral the other day and realized I should print a frag rack for them as well as the random frags I am constantly trying to get to heal from my goby, pistol and conch are constantly covering them in sand. I have a 3d printer so I wanted to just print a rack. I searched google and it seems there are mixed reviews on if PLA will work. I know a couple of you have 3d printed parts for your reef. Has anyone had issues with PLA? Or do I need to get some PETG and give that a try? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 I would think that @TheClark and @danlu_gt might have some experience with this question. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlu_gt Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 PLA is fine. It's biodegradable but only in commercial composting. Check out this video: https://youtu.be/X_Gh-3PQhiE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeardUp Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 Thanks @danlu_gt thats is great news and bad. I did not know how unbiodegradeable the biodegradable PLA is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse522 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 A food safe filament would probably be ok. I just get a food safe filament and have not printed with it yet. Right now, I have a PETG stand for my protein skimmer in my sump for many months. Things seem ok with it. I did some research. PETG seemed more acceptable in than aquarium than PLA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Many years of PLA and PETG in my tanks. Skimmer parts, frag racks, overflows. Basically any part I need. Stick to clear, black or white as the safest colors. I usually use clear or black myself. Lots of good threads on this including RHF himself weighed in a few years back. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeardUp Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 4 hours ago, TheClark said: Many years of PLA and PETG in my tanks. Skimmer parts, frag racks, overflows. Basically any part I need. Stick to clear, black or white as the safest colors. I usually use clear or black myself. Lots of good threads on this including RHF himself weighed in a few years back. Do the colored filaments cause issues or is it that we don't really know what they used to dye the plastic? Should I remove the silver PLA rack I made last night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 I love how many people in our club have specific expertise! It's like we've got all the aspects of reefing covered. 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 5 hours ago, BeardUp said: Do the colored filaments cause issues or is it that we don't really know what they used to dye the plastic? Should I remove the silver PLA rack I made last night? The latter I think. From brand to brand, run to run, we cannot be sure what was used for colorant. For example, what if they used something metallic to make the silver color? Probably unlikely but it never hurts to be cautious over cool (because silver is plain cool!) Disclaimer: I am not a material scientist, just a fellow reefer... There is a great (old) article on R2R about this topic too. Pics of the rack? Sounds nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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