3D Printing 3D Printer - Making Artificial Corals

Mick

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Joined
Jan 19, 1999
Messages
32,153
Reaction score
9,217
Regarding 3D printers, I wanted to know the process involved in making items like an Artificial Coral, has anyone on here got a 3D printer or knows about them.

I have been keeping marine fish for quite some time now, and have always struggled with the hard corals and sometimes buy them from places that sell "living color" artificial corals, these are stunning and look the part but also the price tag is serious as there is nothing like them on the market, this is not about manufacture lol... it is about building them exact to fit into my fish tank - as that is the only thing with buying the good stuff online and that is they are built to buy.

I do keep live corals and anemones but the easier types of course that are raised and bred in fish tanks (some LPS and SPS corals are impossible for me lol).

Living color (colour) is an american based company they actually do the brilliant "Fish Tank Kings" TV series and make serious monster tanks! so you can imagine they do not sell in small pieces unless you are in the millionairs bracket!

So back on topic could a 3D printer make artificial corals, would they have to be plastic only, and what kind of detail could you expect from a 3d Printer copy of a marine coral!

Thought I would kick this section off with some questions about the printers :)

Thanks all

Mick
 
We have recently bought a cheap 3D printer at work, the mouldings we use aren't very complex so it might be alright for getting an idea of how things fit and look (when we have the time to get past the calibration stage).

The models I've seen are a bit rough but that might be ideal for your requirement. The complexity would be creating the 3D model (freehand extrusion might work in some package) but these cheap printers can't print overhangs without a support mesh being laid down first, which you need to remove after printing. To print without these scaffold meshes you need a 3D laser machine with powder or liquid photopolymer medium (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_laser_sintering).

There might be issues with the toxicity of the material too, from what I've briefly read there shouldn't be a problem unless the material is below its decomposition temperature but I imagine other chemicals could degrade the material (PLA is organic but you can print in other materials - reprap.org/wiki/Printing_Material_Suppliers). It did make me think and put my wine demijohn decanting spout on hold though.
 
If it could mould rock, then the rougher the better as it would be better for bacteria to colonise.

I could imagine you could create stunning caves and hideaways for more shy fish.

Sounds very interesting, but designing your own tank layout, holes for filters, access built in for pumps. That would be something incredible.

Mick
 
We've also got one of these things gathering dust in the corner of the office, I'm not at all impressed with them to be honest. Unless you pay mega bucks then maybe they can do a decent job x
 
We've also got one of these things gathering dust in the corner of the office, I'm not at all impressed with them to be honest. Unless you pay mega bucks then maybe they can do a decent job x

You have to spend forever setting it up and then not disturbing it. Ours is printing some acceptable bits at the moment.

We're getting one of the laser ones that uses a box of liquid sometime.
 
I would be concerned about the plastic leaching into the water.
 
I would be concerned about the plastic leaching into the water.


View attachment 96770

Relevant post, but sadly not one which adds towards your post count :Fish:

I've just bought enough Arka Rock from a fellow reefer to fill a 5` tank, so after I've 'scaped my brand new shiny, (as yet completely dry) Reefer 350, I should have some left over to move on, plus there's around 25Kg of live rock from my existing tank I'll need to shift when I finally get set up. Feel free to put in a bid when I eventually sell up :)

I bought my RSR350 in May as well as my Radions, Jecod Gyre, Reefloat, BM Curve 5, Eheim 3000+ return pump, Arka Rock and the whole bl00dy shooting match and I've still to get it wet.

I mistakenly asked her if she'd like me to give the Living room a lick of paint before I built the tank, and she gave me a list as long as your arm, the main part being creating a partition and redesigning the living room (which I've done a marvellous job of BTW). We're now waiting on the Plasterer finishing off the Dining area and afterwards, me finishing off the carpeting and real wood flooring before I can even think about building the cabinet and tank wet.

Anyway, bin the 3d Plastic idea and buy my surplus rock...you know it makes sense. I can guarantee that there'll be plenty of beneficial wildlife included (Brittle Stars & Copepods/Amphipods (also Bristle Worms if you like)).

As my learned colleague leonking stated above, there is the possibility of some chemicals leaching out into the water from the plastic. That, combined with the poor anaerobic qualities of the 3D plastic structures won't do your tank any good.

Anyway...bottom line is: Don't create 3D plastic LR. Buy my genuine LR instead.
 
I would be concerned about the plastic leaching into the water.

It all depends on which plastic you use. There are a ton of different kinds now.

Quite a lot of them are PLA based which is cornstartch based and fully bio-degradable and safe. The problem is it does degrade under water.

ABS would not be very good as it non-biodegradable and I'm not sure how safe it wouuld be for a tank, but it's BPA free.

Most of the PETG filiament you get is food grade, but it's not recomended to be used for eating with or off unlesss you can gurantee no contminents have been passed from the printer etc.., with cheaper printers I would think it's a no go.

I use my printer for all sorts of stuff, phone cradles, tablet docks, wall brackets, chess sets, phone cases, quadcopter & heli parts.

One of the best £200 gadgets I've ever bought.
 
Back
Top