hdpe safe to use?

[jimlin]

wondering if this would be safe to use in the aquarium. wanted to go bare bottom and planned to use this and epoxy sand on it to give it the look of sand.http://www.zorotools.com/g/Corrosion%20Resistant%20HDPE%20Sheets%2024x24/00093044/

[Origami]

HDPE is used in food packaging (milk containers, etc.). It's safe to use as there's a very low probability that it will leach anything at the temperatures we use it at.

[Coral Hind]

As he said the high-density polyethylene is fine to use. The StarBoard many people use in their tanks is made of the same stuff.

[monkiboy]

wondering if this would be safe to use in the aquarium. wanted to go bare bottom and planned to use this and epoxy sand on it to give it the look of sand.http://www.zorotools...24x24/00093044/

that's a neat idea. have you seen it done on another tank? curious how it would look ultimately, what epoxy worked best, etc. also, so no sand sifting creatures then?

[jimlin]

i got the idea from reef central. looked at several ones and they look pretty good. they siliconed a piece of starboard on the bottom and epoxy sand on top of the board as well as the silicone. this allows you to turn up the flow in the tank and more places to put your corals. no sand sifting fish or inverts.

 

was going to use silicone or pond foam, but read they both dont work as well as epoxy. i think the regular coral epoxy works and you probably dont need that much as well. just a thin coat.

 

will be another one of my experiments on my tank build.

[jimlin]

here is one on faux sandbeds. http://blog.aquanerd.com/2011/01/faux-sandbeds-going-bare-bottom-with-a-more-natural-look.html

[monkiboy]

thank you, sir. that's a novel idea. one i might take up on if i know i won't be interested in any of the inverts that would occupy that area as a home. thanks for posting.

[OldReefer]

I did that back around 2004. The epoxy + sand + starboard works great. I went with just starboard on this last build.

[jimlin]

I did that back around 2004. The epoxy + sand + starboard works great. I went with just starboard on this last build.

sweet. did you use liquid epoxy or the dry stuff?

[OldReefer]

I did the clear resin epoxy and missed some sand into it. I spread it on the Starboard and the sprinkled more sand on it to finish. It looked really natural.

[jimlin]

thanks.

[epleeds]

here is one on faux sandbeds. http://blog.aquanerd...tural-look.html

 

that looks really natural looking. much better than bare bottom in my opinion.

[jimlin]

yup, thats why i am going this route. decided to use liquid epoxy mix with sand and pouring it on top of starboard and then silicone the starboard to the bottom of the tank. this way it is still removable. im not going with a deep sandbed look, but rather a thin layer. coraline will grow on it, but can probably be cleaned with a scrubber.