Hdpe or sand??

[PowderBlue]

I've never gone bare bottom.... Well that's a lie but there's another time for that story haha. Now really with a bare bottom tank, has anyone is here used or currently using hdpe or starboard? My new tank is acrylic, I hate the look of dirty sand, and I think it will help with the tank getting scratched and also look cleaner, but I'm afraid it might look odd. I had an idea of using hdpe but gluing a very thin coating of medium sized crushed coral to the hdpe. I'm just not sure if it might cause issues. It will give that "Natural look" which I do like. Anyone have an idea, or if you currently use hdpe as your tank bottom do you like it, hate it?

 

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[Jack-the-reefer]

I saw a thread somewhere where people put down a layer of sand, then covered it with two part epoxy. Then you still get the look of the sand, but none of the mess. It looked pretty cool.

[matty]

I used starboard in my office nano and I like it a lot. The only thing I would suggest would be to silicone it in, detritus will collect under it if you don't. With mine, I left a small hole in one corner that allows me to suck it out with the water change hose. My tank is only 8 gallons though so the small size allows me to get most of the gunk out that way, in a larger tank I think it would be more difficult. As far as the look goes, to me it looks like sand being that it's white but then you also get coralline growth on it so be prepared that it won't look like sand for long. I like it mostly because it offers a layer of protection for the bottom glass but still gives you the benefit of bare bottom, it's amazing how much crud builds up and how quickly, you can really see why sand beds get so nasty.

[Blue Z Reef]

My frag tank has a sheet of white plastic for the same effect as starboard. I would have used starboard but the plastic sheet was free so that's what I went with. I agree with Matty, you need to silicone it down. I didn't at first at it got kinda gross underneath.

 

I've also seen people use tile before, which was more natural looking. It was on a larger build on R2R...wish I could recall, will post if I come across it again.

[PowderBlue]

I never thought of doing tile, maybe like a limestone or something? Travertine? I'd have to look into it but that might look cool and I could cut it to size very easily. I think I'll either do a tile or the starboard. Thanks everyone!

 

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[PowderBlue]

How thick on the starboard 1/2 inch? Bigger? Smaller?

 

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[markvo]

I put 1/2 " Starboard around the outside of my tank and then added sand. That way when a bare spot was created in the sand, you wouldn't see the black shelf underneath. I forgot to put a white piece of plastic under the tank.

For my new tank build I am putting 1/4" Starboard in and epoxying a thin layer of sand on top. This will get coated with coralline algae if constantly exposed, so I am adding an inch of sand. Then when the sand gets moved away in a spot there will still be some sand showing. I will have to be sure to cover up the spot before coralline algae has time to develop.

[PowderBlue]

So you think 1/4 is thick enough for a bottom layer? Instead of a bare bottom tank?

 

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