Precisely one year ago, I had the opportunity to review an interesting product called Reef Rax (shameless plug right HERE), a natural looking manmade piece of rock with one flat side, two magnets embedded in its structure, and a bunch of frag plug sized holes drilled through it. I gave it a well-deserved positive review, praising its lightweight construction, natural look, and use of inert, reef-safe materials in its build.

Since the time of that review, I decided to do an unorthodox thing with these frag racks; instead of temporarily holding frags for trade in them, I planted a bunch of frags and just let them grow freely. The results are simply stunning:

Not only has the Reef Rax itself become overgrown with natural reef fauna and flora just like a natural, made out of dead coral skeletons rock would, but it also serves as a “mobile” coral grow out that can go on road trips around the tank. It’s like my own personal coral lab where I test various corals’ reactions to changes in light exposure and/or changes in flow patterns. It’s a great way for me to discover the optimal position for a given coral to look and grow the best in my aquarium without the need for messy glue work.

The reason I wanted to check back on Reef Rax is two-fold: first of all, I wanted to show you how effectively this magnetic frag rack works as a support for the miniature coral garden in the only dimension my reef tank is not yet overgrown with coral tissue and second, to report back on yet another model in the Reef Rax catalog I received from the company a few months after doing my original review. This newest addition is called nano shelf, and it’s just awesome.

For two reasons- the oversized back “wall” offers much greater support (I have had zero problems attaching the ¼” version to ½” thick glass) plus I can grow more corals vertically in the back.

Once again, if you’re looking for a natural looking frag rack and don’t mind paying a little extra over a generic egg-crate one, give Reef Rax a try, you won’t be disappointed. Pictures:

I would like to finish this comeback with a personal message, or rather a plea, to Kyle from Reef Rax: Kyle, please make this awesome frag rack even better and add a bracket to hold the two outside magnets. It drives me crazy when they sometimes meet each other when I am moving the rack and fly away behind the tank stand, lost in the abyss made of cables, hoses and random items I accidentally dropped while maintaining the tank. Please. Thank you.

Check out the Reefrax website: https://www.reefrax.com/