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

[jthnhale]

kregg: I was thinking of this also, but if something was going to go wrong with these systems it should have happened already. If there was something toxic given off by the epoxy then it would have affected the fish or coral by now. As far as this stuff lasting, it seems to last forever. I don't think even sitting in water 24/7 will change this material.
Also it is being mixed with sand, so that should give it some protection from the sun/lights. I'm going try this, my only questions are do I go ahead and place it on the floor of the tank directly, or do you place it on something that's removable like you said. Also what color sand? I'm thinking black would be cool, but that's a whole other topic.

 

[doody]

Whats the brand of the stuff at Home depot

 

[pickle311]

gqjeff, how many gallons of epoxy and how much sand did it take to cover the bottom of your 240?
I think I'm going this route on my 120 and I figured I could go with half of what you used or maybe a little more just to make sure I have enough.
Thanks

 

[twokayaks]

The brand at Home Depot is Famowood High Gloss Epoxy. Their website is www.famowood.com. The package comes in a 32 oz application. The 32 oz worked fine for my 75 gal tank.

 

[Kregg]

Glaze Coat

Glaze Coat

Following the link. I assume that the Fomowood product used is the "Glaze Coat"? Please verify.

 

[MarkM3]

FYI: Took two 16 oz kits (32oz) and a big bag of sand to cover the bottom of my 100 gallon with about 1/4-1/2 inch.

 

[gqjeff]

I used roughly 1.3-1.5 gallons of environlight tex epoxy and about 50-60 lbs for the mix. I then used prob another 20 or so lbs to top off with the strainer. I then let it dry a few days and vacumed all the left over loose sand out... I then ran my system with frashwater for a couple days then drained and starting adding my RO/DI.

Peace, jeff

 

[twokayaks]

It's the glaze coat product from famowood.

 

[Detritivore]

i thought i read about someone putting another layer of epoxy after the first...did you guys just sifted the sand on, so the texture of the faux bed was sandy?

 

[twokayaks]

Jonah: I followed the procedure that gqfeff did. mix some sand into the epoxy, pour it on the starboard, wait for the epoxy to work its way to the top, then sprinkle more sand on top, wait for epoxy to seep back up, sprinkle more sand on top...

I've had my tank running with the starboard and faux sandbed for 4 days now and my skimmer isn't producing anything. I also added 80 lbs of partially cured live rock at the same time of the starboard. I waited the recommended 72 hours for the epoxy to cure before adding it and the rock to my tank. Skimmer worked fine prior to the starboard. Now it's not doing anything. Have any of you had skimmer problems after adding the starboard and faux sandbed?

 

[gqjeff]

I would give it a couple weeks to take off.. I run my skimmer wet now and I pull a ton of gunk from the water...

 

[twokayaks]

I figured I'd just have to wait it out. Just wanted to hear it from someone else. I've read threads about the importance of a skimmer when curing rock. Wondering what having no skimmer will do to my cycling time for the rock. Wife will just have to wait an added week or so for the fish. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[ravenmore]

hmmm - this is cool. You could also do something similar on the sides and back of the tank and mix in pieces of live rock to give you a cool looking background that you'd never have to clean. You could even have small ledges sticking out to mount frags on.

 

[gqjeff]

Twokayaks.. I would look into cooking yur LR first.. Will make the process much easier form the start.. Do a search for cooking LR if you are going to have to cure it...

Ravenmore, the stuff is not very thick so I do not think this product would work at all for that.. I did see another thread in the past couple days talking about what you are saying though...

 

[Bikelock]

Just wanted to say thanks to you guys, especially mattjk, gqjeff.

I did the faux sand bed in my nano and it is amzing. It was easy, fairly cheap, and looks like it will be effective. It is in a 10gal that is now heavily modified. I'll post pics soon.

 

[gqjeff]

Bikelock, glad it worked out for you.. Would love to see pics of your nano.. I am thinking of setting one up here in my office...

Peace, jeff

 

[Juppy_Juppy]

Has any one tried white sand for this? The only one we get in uthe uk is sugar fine.....Would this have the same effect as yours or would it be too milky/cloudy do you think?

 

[Juppy_Juppy]

Also gqjeff, Did you put yours straight on the glass? Looks like 2 pieces on a couple of the photos a crack in the middle. Have prob said already sorry
Juppy

 

[gqjeff]

Juppy, I used southdown.. that is a pretty fine sand tannish white.. I used acrylic over the glass because of the bracing on the bottom of the tank. I would not use acrylic again if I could not do it in one pc. I left the light on my tank without water in it when I set it up.. The heat from the 400 waters made the acrylic warp.. I do not think it would be a problem if you had water in it.. The heat inside the tank was about 150 degrees wihtout water... I drained out the fresh water I was running through the system to make sure it was clean.. I forgot I had the timers on and left for about 8 hrs.. This is when the warpping happened... It is exaclty were the 2 pcs of acylic meet. If I did it again I would prob use glass or glue the acrylic down to the glass. Everything else is awesome about it... Highly recoomend it.. You can have tons of flow without the sandstorms and it looks natural.. Mine now looks like it had a tsunami. I will have LPS on the entire bottom over time so thats why it doesn't bother me.. You will not see it in the future... You can see the warping in this pic... I do think also though if I could have made it in one pc it would not have happened either.. i had euro bracing so I had to cut the acrylic sheet in 2 pcs to fit it in.. If you could do it in one pc I would use acrylic without hesitation... Hope this helps you and anybody else out..

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/gqjeff/jeffs%20reef/fulltank1-9-1.jpg">

Peace, Jeff

 

[Juppy_Juppy]

cheers for the reply Jeff, Still looks sweet anyway. I want to take this route but not sure about putting it straight on the glass or not. Have been watching your progress in the z forum by the way and must say, VERY Impressed! Am currently trying to up my lighting, flow and sort bb or faux to start zoe so hopefully one day will enjoy similar results to you guys.

Regards
Juppy