Faux sandbeds suck!!

[jackson6745]

If you're thinking about going BB but still want the look of sand.......tough!
Don't make the same mistake I did and epoxy sand to your starboard. It looks nice for the first few months but once algae gorws on it, it can't be cleaned. Not to mention after a few months it started to bubble up, free of the starboard.
I couldn't take the dirty look anymore and with this snow storm keeping me stuck inside I decide to do some major renovations. Since I have a 2 island type of aquascape, I moved all corals to one side of the tank, removed the rock, pulled out the starboard and scraped off all remaining faux sand. Then I placed everything back in and remounted corals. 5 hrs of work

Here is what the faux sandbed looked like a few months after setting up the tank. I though it looked ok here.

here is what it looked like a few months ago....It is much worse now with more red turf growing on it and patches of sand missing.

 

[jackson6745]

here is a pic half way through the job of removing my $hitty faux sandbed

I will post more pics later today of the finished job

 

[DRZL]

I have to agree here,

although mine isnt flaking or growing anything on it thankfully (I used the resin right on the glass w/ sand thrown in) Its not as smooth or reflective as starboard, next time i do it, Starboad it is!

Cabin fever huh Rich?
Did you find any amount of crap underneath the SB? im paranoid about that and was thinking of siliconing it down when i go that route

 

[ctxmonitor]

I'll bet that is gonna take hours of hours of work since you're moving all these corals, did you manage to make some frags ... So really, how long did it take to do half the tank?

 

[nanoreefer22]

Nice and white Rich!! Looks nice this way. Guess most of that red turf crap is gone now . Any accidental frags??.

I'm curious about the detritus under the board to, I've got some crap under mine but its not anything I'd worry about. After a while it's just gonna become inert crap. Flow gets under the board to so everything lines up around the crack in the board for the most part.

 

[FastUno]

I only have coralline growing on mine. I permanently fixed my faux to the glass, using eggcrate with crushed coral & epoxy. Then a layer of very fine sand & epoxy on top.

In general I am not too crazy of any BB tank. You can't beat the look of sand in your main display tank & at the same token you can't beat the ease of care of a BB tank.

In this case it doesn't really matter, cause your starboard will look like your faux real soon. Except you won't have the peeling now.

 

[DRZL]

since you're moving all these corals, did you manage to make some frags

Ive got my fingers crossed for that greenish stag:sgrin:

 

[jackson6745]

Thanks Andres...
Actually I did this last night....no accidental frags I was very careful
Gonna take some new pics now. The tank looks a lot brighter with just the starboard bottom.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Thanks Andres...
Actually I did this last night....no accidental frags I was very careul
Gonna take some new pics now. The tank looks a lot brighter with just the starboard bottom.

Did you finish the job?? Its gotta be lookin all frosh and clean ...too bad there werent accidentals

 

[jackson6745]

Andres I did have the starboard siciloned down and there was no detritus underneath. It is not siliconed anymore so I suspect some detritus will settle under there now....I don't think it will effect my water quality too much though

Here's what the tank looks like now. Much cleaner

 

[nanoreefer22]

B_e_a-utiful :d

 

[DRZL]

whoa BIG DIFFERENCE!

Now go get yourself a drink! Good job bro, Is it as bright as it looks? I dont know why anyone would use black SB and lose lighting the underside of the SPS

 

[kimoyo]

Thanks Andres...
Actually I did this last night....no accidental frags I was very careful
Gonna take some new pics now. The tank looks a lot brighter with just the starboard bottom.

Yeah the white starboard reflects the light back up well. Looks good.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

wowwww its like nite and day with the board.. looks so nice when the cutting board is clean... well i have something to look foward to.. u think since i have the time i should silicone the bottom and the sides of the cuttin board in my tank.. im better off right...

tank is looking great...

 

[mshur]

guys,
in a few month this white board will be covred with algae(

 

[Tonyscoots84]

hopefully coraline

 

[Tonyscoots84]

which from the looks of the tank it will....

 

[Pedro]

Rich, the tank looks great. It's a good thing i didn't jump on the bandwagon back then. The only thing i do regret with my starboard is that i didn't silicone the edges. I see it lifting a bit on the corners. I'm sure some crap gets in, but hopefully not much.

Since i don't have the luxury of the penductors to keep stuff off the floor, i went with a pvc rack to allow more flow underneath. I think sometimes we have to do these drastic moves just to make sure it's clean. Even though i was BB, i still found alot of detritus underneath the rocks. Hopefully now i'll get less.

This was definately a nice weekend to do it. The colors are beautiful!