pdxmonkeyboy Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I have been thinking about my next tank when my house finally sells, and I keep thinking that I want to do something different. It will be an 8x4x30 in wall. I am not thrilled with the idea of an inwall tank but whatever, my job is to make it super cool. So, I have this thought that I would use one of the principle tenants of aquascaping and slope the sand bed towards the rear. If I build the back up 8" then front to back it would have a 10 degree slope. This would create a greater sense of depth and also serve to highlite anything I placed on the sand bed because the whole sandbed would be exposed. I started a thread on 2r2 about what to fill this space with..bricks, cement, gravel, life rock? Seems like sand and water in pvc tubes is the best idea so far. But.. have you ever seen an angled sand bed? I just dont really want a boring 4' deep tank. Thoughts? Comments? I wish crabby was still here. He would know the answer, he knew the answer to everything. Cheers. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 If you have any type of sand sifter, that slope won't last long. I sometimes end up with a 10 degree slope at the front of my tank in a single afternoon. I have a total love/hate relationship with my diamond goby. I don't think there's such a thing as a "boring 4' deep tank". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 OK, I searched and found your R2R thread. After reading through it, my main question is how to combine your slope idea with your actual rockscaping. Would you first lay down your slope structure, then add your rocks on top of it? Or would you have rocks resting on the flat bottom, and then build up the sloped bottom around the rocks? The former seems risky for rock stability, and the latter seems impractical due to the random shape of most rocks. Sorry if these are issues you've already considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 That is a good question. I will probably just put it on top.of the "fill slope". Only because I am gluing, screwing, ziptying, and concreting my aquascape together this time. I had a whole arch full of acros fall in my last tank, not going to happen this time. Maybe I will just fill it with marine pure blocks..that would only be like 2k. Lol Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Good luck with MarinePure...that stuff is is really fragile. I had my skimmer sitting on top of a 8"x8"x1" block of MarinePure and it disintegrated after about 6 months. It works well to provide a lot of surface area for bacterial filtration, but is not structural. I honestly think layering and zip tying eggcrate then backfilling it with sand is probably your best bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtarmitage Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 (edited) Use concrete blocks under the sand, gradually getting taller. It'll hold the sand in place better and prevent a gradually shifting. I'd put window screen over the blocks, after filling the void space with sand, then add sand on top. Placing rock on top will be stable as the underlying foundation is stable. Cutting the blocks may be a pain though lol. Oh, and you'll want to cure the blocks for a bit ahead of time... Edited November 6, 2019 by jtarmitage 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I read through the R2R thread. I totally get the aesthetic appeal, but I can't imagine a way this works long term (without the sand falling toward the front). Sure the slope isn't dramatic but with the amount of water movement you'll have, add in some nassarius snails or even tiger tail or conch or something, it'll go where it wants to go. I suspect you'll be left with it pretty bare in the back and thicker in the front. Some of those posts suggest making baffles to hold the sand back. I think that makes sense and would technically work, but isn't likely to look good 😕 I think your best bet is to make an epoxy faux sand bed on top of your 'triangle' using something extremely coarse to *hopefully* hold the 'real' sand (on top) in place long term. If it were me, I'd build the acrylic 'box' you already mentioned, 8" tall in the back, 0" in the front and set it on the tank bottom. Get yourself a closed loop pump, take water in from somewhere up in the water column and push it out through the bottom of the tank so it pushes water into this box. Find somewhere near the back (the high point of the box) that you can cut a hole in the box and cover the hole in a nice big rock. This way the closed loop is pulling water from the water column above, pushing it into the triangle (keeping that water from getting stagnant) and the water then leaves the triangle by flowing into the rock that's covering the hole. Make sure the hole in the top face of the triangle is near the back of the tank to minimize trapped air. Cover the angled face in a faux sand bed with the coarsest thing you can use in that epoxy (or some other solution to make the surface super coarse) and then add your real sand on top. Gobs of work...but I guess if it's worth it to you, that's what I'd try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bicyclebill Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I’m excited to see this boring 4’ deep tank setup. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 Yeah.. but is it a bad idea in general? Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Yes 🤗 Actually, I think it would look cool for the reasons you suggest but not sure it’s practical. Then again, who thought keeping a miniature reef in your living room was practical. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlu_gt Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Any structures you put in the sand could damage fish trying to hide in it or sifting clean it. Also when the sand get loaded with detritus and you need vacuum clean it, good luck. To me, seems like a huge risk for very little return. Maybe you can just cement the entire sandbed and slope to your liking. Then you don't have to worry about sand need cleaning.A little off topic... If the house is still being built, maybe add a few light tunnels to get sunlight in between your MH. That would be different and interesting to see. Or add a bunch of solar panels to see how much reef equipments can run on solar.Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmas_one Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 (edited) A canyon scape would be awesome on a tank that deep front to back. Make one side like a overhanging cliff. I have an old book that shows some examples of this, I’ll dig it out and post some pics later. Edited November 8, 2019 by xmas_one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 9 hours ago, danlu_gt said: A little off topic... If the house is still being built, maybe add a few light tunnels to get sunlight in between your MH. That would be different and interesting to see. Or add a bunch of solar panels to see how much reef equipments can run on solar. This is an interesting idea. I recall seeing some mini skylight "tube" designs that could work for that if you had a clear path to the roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Speaking from a person with a tank 4’ deep it’s going to have a nice look of “depth” and if you go with a black back (that you will always have spotlessly clean) it looks like it goes on much further than you think, that is of course if you don’t do the fruit stand look of aquascaping Another consideration is if you have a room (frag tanks/equipment room-as i do) that allows viewing from the side, I’d suspect it looking really “odd” IME/O ✌️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 I'm going to fill the entire tank with bleach water, stick this to the back of the tank and just call it a day. https://www.chewy.com/sporn-static-cling-coral-aquarium/dp/156823 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 18 minutes ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: I'm going to fill the entire tank with bleach water, stick this to the back of the tank and just call it a day. https://www.chewy.com/sporn-static-cling-coral-aquarium/dp/156823 Maybe if it had a black back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bicyclebill Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 I'm going to fill the entire tank with bleach water, stick this to the back of the tank and just call it a day. https://www.chewy.com/sporn-static-cling-coral-aquarium/dp/156823 Seems reasonable Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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