Reason NOT to use epoxy for faux sand in bare bottom tank.

[Anonymous]

I read a couple places of people using epoxy with sand to make a fake sand bottom for their tank.

I have only found one reason so far not to use it. That is due to epoxy not having any UV protection in it. The instructions on the epoxy system I use say it must be covered with something such as gel coat or paint.

I just thought I would throw that out there.....

 

[magicman76]

hmm.. dont mogal MH bulbs have a UV screening in the glass and HQI's need a UV filtering lens? In other words.. how much UV will there be on the bottom of the tank? Im thinking not much.. HTH

 

[Anonymous]

Not 100% sure, but I think H2O will serve the same function as the gel coat or paint, especially if you have more than a few inch of water on top of the epoxy

 

[liquid]

Do you mean mixing the sand and epoxy and then pouring it onto the glass bottom of your tank? If so, I'd recommend pouring it onto some removable sheet so you can remove it from your tank. Reason being is that I've read posts where they've poured it onto the bottom of their tank and after adding water the epoxy stress-fractured their tank bottom.

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

Not 100% sure, but I think H2O will serve the same function as the gel coat or paint, especially if you have more than a few inch of water on top of the epoxy

Yep. The small amount of UV isn't going to make it to the bottom of a tank.

 

[minibowmatt]

has anyone ever used that fiberglass reinforced "commercial" bathroom wall stuff on the bottom of a tank before? I saw someone using it, and it looks ok, but I dont know if it is totally inert?

 

[Anonymous]

If you use the PVC stuff it will be fine. I think fiberglass is OK but I'm not sure.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you mean mixing the sand and epoxy and then pouring it onto the glass bottom of your tank? If so, I'd recommend pouring it onto some removable sheet so you can remove it from your tank. Reason being is that I've read posts where they've poured it onto the bottom of their tank and after adding water the epoxy stress-fractured their tank bottom.

Shane

You can avoid the sand actually touching the glass by painting a coat of epoxy on the bottom first, then pouring in the sand and epoxy mixture.