barebottom with substrate ---- yes, you heard right

[henward]

Ok,
my next tank - aro comm monstrosity i want tob e bare bottom
but i HATE the bracing look.

so i considrered 2 massive sheets of glass at the bottom so its braced but effectively looks unbraced... if that makes sense.

anyhoooo...
i decided, i want the bare bottom effect but the substrate look
so im going to coat the bottom with silicone, and spread the desired substrate onto the bottom, thsi way, it looks natural, but no way the muck can penetrate the 'substrate' and has the bare bottom effect of cleanliness.
AND no worries about bracing cos youc an just build up around the edge of it and it will be invisible....

elegant solution i thought

but this is the feedback and critique time.
any issues you foresee

here are some that you might come up with

1) mvoing it would be hard cos its heavier.
I will never move the tank, i will build another onsite where ever i go, tank size im looking at cannot be moved

 

[Chase vaseleou]

I did this on a 30 gallon tank, it looked great but it will eventually get dirty looking; I used a sponge to go over it. I used pebbles, I glued the pebbles to a piece of acrylic that was cut to fit the bottom of the tank (removable). Lets see pics if you go forward!

 

[gnuisance]

interesting idea, post pics please

 

[dxdx]

that seems like a good idea to glue it to something that's removable. You could use something like a piece of rubber or other flexible material cut to the size of your tank. This way if it got dirty over time you could replace it for a low cost...

 

[FuriousFish]

Keep Us Updated!

 

[petspoiler]

The best of both worlds! This thought recently occurred to me (for a standard tank). I have no DIY experience. S0, wonder if it'd work on removable pieces of acrylic or?, like home made tile squares with realistically varied depth.
For myself, a light sprinkling of coarse sand on it would be fine to increase realism. It'd still have greatly reduced maintenance.

Subscribing

 

[trick1441]

I took the brace off of my 90 gal and then spray painted the bottom with some of that texture spray paint. Then siliconed the brace back on. I think it looked pretty cool and realistic. I would post a picture but it is now a planted tank with sand in it.


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