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

[pottsburg]

I'd love to see this on the back of somebodies tank with some live rock embedded in it. It wouldn't look like an ocean as much but that would look freakin awesome!

 

[petedoc]

There are several tanks with pond foam and sand on the back wall.

 

[pottsburg]

let's see it!

 

[petedoc]

I think they are over in the large tank forum, but I can't seem to find them. Good luck!

 

[petedoc]

I found one, it is posted by mflamb.

 

[AfAqua]

This might help.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=447292&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[levon15]

Updates

 

[Tiggsy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9434801#post9434801 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pottsburg
I'd love to see this on the back of somebodies tank with some live rock embedded in it. It wouldn't look like an ocean as much but that would look freakin awesome!

 

[SuperNerd]

^^That looks amazing, Tiggsy!

 

[wabio]

Anyone have toxicity updates on the epoxy yet?

 

[dogstar74]

None so far. 3+ years running. I've used pond foam, krylon, and two part epoxy resin for a faux sandbed in my 20H and had no problems with anything like that. Inverts happy, fish happy, and softy corals happy.

Oh I should say, that I had a xenia melt away over time. But I attribute that to water quality and lighting. I wouldn't blame the other materials in the tank to it's demise.

 

[mitlik1]

Very cool thread. Any updates from people with the faux BB.

 

[mitlik1]

bump

 

[mitlik1]

Any good feedback/updates on your tanks?

 

[dogstar74]

I am now having an algae outbreak, but I know that I overfed the tank for about 2 weeks, and that's the cause. I'll soon get it under control.

Everything else is really working well. I'm happy with the bottom, but it does become mottled and encrusted.

I miss a sandbed, and I'll probably go to a SSB on the next tank. But I don't regret this one, and I'm not changing this tank to a sand bed soon.

HTH.

 

[Canarygirl]

I'm happy with the bottom, but it does become mottled and encrusted.

do you mean, different than how a bare bottom acrylic gets mottled and encrusted?

I miss a sandbed, and I'll probably go to a SSB on the next tank.

If your next tank is acrylic again, what kind of substrate would you use in a SSB to prevent it from scratching? Or are you thinking that you'd only do this with a glass tank?

 

[dogstar74]

Sorry, my tank is just a regular All Glass 20 high. So I can't really answer about the scratching part.

As far as the mottling and encrusting, it's just like any surface that sits without being cleaned. If you leave it long enough alone, pretty soon you'll have purple, and green coraline algae all over it. I personally don't like coraline algae to a great extent, I even scrape the back of the tank occasionally to get the stuff off. But I don't mind it so much on the faux sand bed, and I'm happier with the faux bed than I would be with just a glass panel bottom or acrylic bottom.

Aaron

 

[cp3823]

awesome thread. More pics please.

 

[coraltastic]

can we get some info on that tank tiggsy

 

[dogstar74]

You may have to post him a Personal message, he posted that picture three years ago. This is a really old thread. But a good read none the less.

Aaron