Floating Island Options

[joe]

There are a couple of threads on specific artifical floating islands (such as PVA coating for instance). Or floating corkbark. In other words, those threads are very focused and specific. But I'm interested in thoughts/ideas/suggestions for floating islands across a range of options. For those of you that have considered or used floating islands, what natural and artificial options have you played with, what worked, what didn't?

 

[paris]

a cheap easy method is to use flat pieces of styrofoam(polystyrene)-its white to start with but will turn brown and green fairly fast-you can train java moss to grow over it and that will hide the foam from sight-just make sure when you use it that there are no loose pieces floating about the tank that can be consumed-rinse it first in cold water a few times also. this is not only cheap but its good for temp tanks and sick tanks because it can be thrown away afterwards-there is no desire to re-use it so its not got the chance to spread disease like re-used items that might not been cleaned fully.

 

[peter]

I've used suction cups and the lid from a small rubbermaid container. The suction cups sat on the same side of the tank, and the lid sat on top of these, and floated on the water otherwise. This also created a small slope that was usually half an inch below water, making it easier for the newts to climb onto. The whole thing cost under $5.