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

[Tiggsy]

if you did this and also added loose sand on top would it allow for the benifits of a loose sand base but achived with only a very small amount - lots of bare patches but they wouldnt show up. Would coraline grow on it so easily with a thin amount of sand loose down there?

[Sindjin]

Anyone have any pics of their tanks completley setup with a faux sand bed?

[Dholmblad]

I really wish I could do this, it would solve so many problems for me. But I really dont think I could take everything outa my 90 gal.

[King-Kong]

sindjin: I just did that... check out the thread.

[areze]

anyone have the details of the shrink factor of the epoxy?

we dont use acrylic and glass cause they expand at different rates. no doubt this does too; and would stress the joints.

I guess the question is; how do you get a solid slab that isnt connected to the glass? cant fit it in because of bracing.

what if you layered the bottom with wax paper or that new non stick aluminum foil. made your bottom; and then picked it up with the paper; peeled it away; all while its in the tank; then lay it back down. now the 2 are free to expand and contract seperately vs stressing each other.

or how about a flexable bottom? are their any clear silicone resins?

[King-Kong]

I think placing it on thin cutting board is the way to go. No risk of anything that way, and it is easy to remove.

[areze]

but it would still be joined to the sides. making it probably impossible to remove.

I guess if you made a frame and built it onto the cutting board outside the tank and laid it in panels like you would starboard.

Id just like it better if it in no way bonded to the glass and had about 1/16" of room around it.

[King-Kong]

I didnt glue mine down. its not attached. I cut it to be a bit shy of the edge of the tank.

[areze]

hmmm ok.

well I had some polyurethane resin epoxy whatever from a past project. its a 2part mixture that dries crystal clear, 90D shore hardness.

but I have used it before; and if you drop it into water; it disappears. so my thought is; what if you submerged the sand in it; mix it up but dont sprinkle sand on top; infact, add more resin over it so its smooth.

not sure if itll work yet. unfortunatly this stuff does get hot. hot enough that I didnt dry the sand enough and it evaporated in the mix causing lots of bubbling. atleast thats my theory on why it bubbled. Im going to try again with some VERY dry sand and see what happens. Im just doing little 4x4" squares for testing purposes now. in a wooden mold sealed with special sealent, and waxed with special wax for this purpose. if it works; I should be able to do the same thing with larger peices and lay it in. hopefully anyway.

[MeuserReef]

arenze.. dont you think that the clear layer would look a little wierd once the coraline begins to grow? If you have a layer of smooth epoxy and the Purple stuff starts to grow.. it will appear suspended in the water.
Just a thought.

[Marshall]

The effect you're going to get (and parts of mine have this from where the tape folded over on itself and no new sand sprinkled on top) is a 'lake' of sand. What I mean by this is imagine a hobby train set with a faux lake.. it looks like water (reflective) but is really just hardened epoxy. The only difference is that there won't be any texture but it will be sand colored. I would suggest not doing this.

Cheers!

[areze]

for the coraline I thought I could just remove it like one would on the front glass. as for the lake of sand, noted. my hope is that under water it doesnt have that affect; it just disappears and you cant tell that there is a seem between the clear water and the clear resin. just did a small box, nothing to lose. the other problem with it anyway is air bubbles, I have a pressure pot so I can cure it under 80psi. but cant fit more than a few inch mold. so full sized it might get bubbles; and thatd obviously be a problem.

[areze]

well it was relatively successful. I think the over lay could have been thinner, only from a "hovering" standpoint for rocks, algea, and snails ect. but a smooth top didnt seem to harm the overall appearance of the sand at all. in person you would not have any idea that it was solid, or covered over. you cant tell there was anything in the water except at the edges.

[areze]

hmmm photos do a bad job of showing it but the first 4 photos are with the square submerged. you probably dont see anything but pure sand either way. not sure whered Id go next with this though.

I molded it onto acrylicby the way, with metal tape walls. just thinking that the exposed sand would be very rough; hard to blow ditrius(sp?) off, and might attract algea even more and you cant do anything. so this way I would go in there with a CC or scraper or whatever and clean it up.

[Sindjin]

areze,

Looks good. Thanks for sharing your progress.
What is the Metal Tape you wrote about?

[areze]

its meant for duct work I believe; its like thick tin foil with adhesive on one side. works great as a heat sheild on RC cars to keep hot engines from melting the lexan body . had it left over; and it can bend into crisp corners since its metal. also nice and smooth.

[Sindjin]

Did you have the adhesive side in towards the sandbed or the metalic side?

[snookcatcher]

well im almost done with the plumbing on my 90 gal and im gonna do this new "faux" sandbed. how much epoxy do i need to buy? and also which type sand is best. southdown, caribsea etc. thanx a lot i love this new idea!

[snookcatcher]

well im almost done with the plumbing on my 90 gal and im gonna do this new "faux" sandbed. how much epoxy do i need to buy? and also which type sand is best. southdown, caribsea etc. thanx a lot i love this new idea!

[snookcatcher]

sorry double post

[OoVWoO]

Cool idea, I'd done/seen similar on some freshwater projects, and some of my customers have followed suite. For large african cichlids that prefer caves, we got some large pvc elbows and such, and covered it with food-safe counter top spray epoxy and rolled it around in whatever the gravel/sand in any given tank was, and they turn out great.

[King-Kong]

snook, depends on your taste. I used one 32oz package which barely was enough.. if your wallet allows it, try to get a larger package. I also used aragalive dry sand.. i think its that caribsea type. i rinsed it and dried it in the sun before using it.

Photos of my 90g with fauxsandbed:
http://www.d3f.org/misc/fish/90g/08c-cuttingboard.jpg
http://www.d3f.org/misc/fish/90g/09-fauxsand.jpg
http://www.d3f.org/misc/fish/90g/09b-fauxsand.jpg
http://www.d3f.org/misc/fish/90g/21-faux-sand.jpg

[snookcatcher]

well my friend works at michaels and he hooked me up with a 32oz and a 16 oz package of the envirotex epoxy, now i have to get starboard (or somthing similar?) and sand, what kind of sand have you guys used (the caribsea is 40$!!!!)

[King-Kong]

you dont need much sand. I bought a 30lb bag of it, and used about 1/3rd.

[snookcatcher]

i want it to be a little higher than the black plastic part that runs along the bottom, would that be enough????10lbs?