Idea for Faux sand bed. Envirotex Lite high gloss finish.

lovetoreef said:
RT

did he (and do you) plan on placing a layer of cuttingboard/starboard on the bottom below the epoxy/sand layer to protect the glass, or do you feel that the epoxy layer will protect the glass from the pressure of the rock?

thanks.
Click to expand...

well I just finished doing this on a little 10g hex I got at a garage sale. It's okay looking...I mixed play sand in with the epoxy, then poured it in the tank. To be honest it looks a little like mud, but it seems to dry pretty well, the top layer is sand and it's held on pretty well. I'll do some water tests and then we'll see. No starboard, don't see the point. I'll post pics later...
 
I did it and I have some pics in my gallery.. Mine turned out perfect in my 240.. I had some friends over and they didn't even know it was solid until I had them touch it.. the key is to dry some sand and then put it in a strainer and sift the sand over the epoxy with sand in it.. If you don't it will have a milky appearane like the mud I think he is talking about.. This is from the dust in the sand mixing with the clear epoxy.. Click on my gallery if you want to see the finished result.. AWESOME in one word.

Peace, Jeff
 
I'm still a noob, so forgive my nooby noob-ness . . .

Isn't a live sand bed beneficial? From my < 1 year experience, I was under the impression that the live sand bed contained much of the tiny stuff that helps stabilize the tank. Someone straighten me out here :)
 
alot of debates about DSB's lately. I will run a DSB in my fuge so I can change it out every couple of yrs before it gets saturated with phosphates and leeches back into the tank. I used about 100 oz's of the stuff. I owuld say its a good 1/4-1/2" cause of the extra sand you will sift on top. Do a search about BB tanks. bare bottom.

Peace, Jeff
 
I am also wanting to use this in my 250 but I am only in the planning stage at the moment so I have a few questions. Did you mix the sand in with the epoxy or pour the epoxy and then pour the sand over the top only or both? Does this spread out evenly or do you have to trowel it onto the bottom?
 
mixed a small amount with it so it did spread easily.. I did have to lift the tank to get it were I wanted it but no biggey. I then put dry sand into a strainer and sifted it over the sand a few times whenever I saw the epoxy coming threw.

Good luck, Jeff
 
doody said:
I was wondering if anyone has tried to creat a backdrop with this stuff by pushing base rock into it, like the foam methode?
Click to expand...
That's my plan for a new 170 I have on order. I am going to use high density polyurethane foam, sculpt it to have an inch or two of relief, cut out some areas to embed LR, then coat it with epoxy and sand. Before the epoxy cures, I will smash the LR into the mix.
Has anybody tried this with the Sweetwater brand epoxy sold at Aquatic EcoSystems (I may have missed this in an earlier post)?
-Ron
 
I was thinking maybe you dont need the foam if the epoxy is thick enough, but I never used the epoxy.
 
My thinking is that the foam allows you to create an irregular bottom shape in a more controlled way than just with the epoxy alone. Epoxy has a tendency to be self leveling.
First it was DSB vs. BB, then Envirotex vs. Sweetwater, now foam vs. no foam. When will it stoooooppppp . . . .
-Ron
 
Oh My, thats fabulous, I love it, it looks like you just poured a bag of sand in the tank. What kind of sand did you use to mix into it, I love the color of it. Please post a pic of it upside down, then I will be convinced its in there, lol, know what I mean? I want to do the same thing with my smaller tanks, its fabulous
 
You can see pics in my gallery of the faux bed.... Its awesoem Iluv it.. I have a ton of flow and no sand storm... 6-8K gph in my 240...
 
Wow GG, thats a beautiful tank, how deap is the bed. Is it made like this thread? Do you have a pic of a closeup of the bed? What did you make it out of?
Really great looking. And love the room its in to, the wall color is beautiful
 
TY very much... If you click my www link I have some newer pics... The bed is about 1/4 deep... It is made exactly like this thread.. The only thing I did different that worked really good for me was to dry some sand for a week before hand. What I did with this sand after it was dried was put it in a strainer and sift it over the mix of epoxy and sand until i could not see the clear epoxy seeping out any longer... It looks completly natural.. I have had some other reef keeping friends come by and they always ask how can I have so much flow with the sand.. I start to chuckle then comes the 15 minutes explination of what I did hahahah.. I absolutly love it and would never have another tank without it... If you click my gallery you can see some closeups of the bed before water was put into the tank... for my 240 I used about 60-80lbs southdown and 1.5 gallons of environlight tex... If you want to know anything else PM me and I will give you my cell number and I can maybe explian it better.. I am not a fast typer or a good typer for that matter..

Peace, jeff
 
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