Young Frankenstein
I sniff ozone and relax.
Get some thick aragonite ..................... go the natural way 
BB or black sand
- Thread starter Mr bigolsworth
- Start date
- Tagged users None
seafansar
Well-Known Member
You know, I thought the same way for 4 years. I hated the look of BB tanks and wouldn't let my boyfriend make a BB tank. Now I have a BB tank with starboard and love it! lol. I did have a BB nano with nothing over the glass bottom and didn't like it, but the board makes it look a bit nicer and now that it's getting covered in coralline it looks great. Plus it is pretty minimal with a foam wall. lol. Pretty far from natural, but it actually looks pretty darn good IMO!
To the OP, I used black sand and hated it for the same reasons stated. I would not recommend using it. I've found that the maintenance on a BB is a lot easier than with sand. The detritus collects in one corner of my tank, thankfully behind a big rock structure and you can hardly see it, so it is very easy to siphon out. I bought my starboard from a LFS (WWC to be exact) and they cut it for me. I siliconed it to the bottom and then used black silicone to cover the edges to match the black silicone on the tank and so detritus couldn't get underneath. You can tape around where you silicone so the lines look neater.
ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
I was anti-bare bottom until I moved my tank and vacuumed the sand. My sps started growing faster so I removed almost all the sand. I don't miss it and I'm waiting to see how it will look covered in coralline.
_sludgefactory
Valuable Member
M@!
Active Member
Here are the basic steps:
1. Cover Bottom of tank with wax paper (You can use HDPE on the bottom of the tank to raise the sand bed without using tons of epoxy)
2. Mix 2 parts sand with 1 part Famowood Glaze Coat
3. Pour into tank (you can use the wax paper to split into two pieces for larger tanks)
It will get covered by Coraline but is definitely an alternative.
_sludgefactory
Valuable Member
So i would assume you have to do that in the building phase. Sounds pretty cool though.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
cdrewferd
Active Member
You want something totally different?
Its whatever color you paint the bottom - totally inert and you can see whats in it and won't scratch the glass (or shouldn't)
I just ordered fifty pounds.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE post more information. PM sent as well.
robert
Valuable Member
These are called peening beads - they are pure glass - devoid of free silicates. They come in many sizes - what I show above is the largest I could find - and unfortunately, after ordering 50 lbs - the supplier is out of stock.
Smaller beads are available in may places and are considerably cheaper than the larger beads, the smaller stuff costs ~1$ per pound. Harbor-freight stocks a small bead - very white, looks like pure sugar. I don't know what it will look like when it gets wet. http://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-80-grit-glass-bead-blast-media-46426.html
I've never used these before - and I don't know of anyone who has.
My order should arrive tomorrow. I plan on doing some tests and will post the results.
Smaller beads are available in may places and are considerably cheaper than the larger beads, the smaller stuff costs ~1$ per pound. Harbor-freight stocks a small bead - very white, looks like pure sugar. I don't know what it will look like when it gets wet. http://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-80-grit-glass-bead-blast-media-46426.html
I've never used these before - and I don't know of anyone who has.
My order should arrive tomorrow. I plan on doing some tests and will post the results.
Last edited:
