What can I use to cover a bare bottom tank??????????

[doubledragon]

Has anybody thought of using that foam stuff that people use on backgrounds??? If it was tight on the sides nothing could get underneath of it...

 

[cichlaguapote]

Seriously tho, there's millions of beautiful natural tiles available... It's just an idea, but personally I like it.

It works and it's been done.. look up street cyphers (might be all one word) tank. He has marble tile in his 180g.

I'm not worried about my fish themselves messing with the silicone. I just know they are going to push the decorations around and ram them into the silicone, and I dont want them to damage it. It only took my two channel cat's a little over a month to pull out five out of six of my undergravel filter tubes, and they move the decorations around as it is, even with gravel in the tank.

Unless you have the hulk hogan or the incredible hulk of fish in all honesty you have nothing to worry about. Many many people use decorations with bare bottom tanks and I've never heard of decorations being pushed into the silicone being a problem.

If you have a fish that provides that much pushing force I'd be more worried about the glass on the tank than the silicone seams.

 

[gomezladdams]

You could just paint under the bottom glass

 

[Scorponok]

you can put regular background underneath your tank floor.

 

[Peter McFarlane]

Ok guys after much thought and trawling though tile samples.... I've decided that my latest tank, Is going to have a tiled floor... I'm not going to silicone them or stick them down, I don't see the need to.

I'm going to cut the tiles so they fit as near perfect as I can, and any gaps between tiles I'm going to fill with sand or gravel (or similar...) I'm planning on having the entire surface area of the tank tiled...

I am going to have live plants... But planning on doing this by having some sort of rock pool areas where larger rocks are used to form a circle and the center in filled with gravel for planting etc....

I know this may be hard to visualize and I know I'm not the best at describing things... I have sketches on paper... but can't scan them... I'll try knock up an image on paint programme and post that.

Any ideas, suggestions, warnings would be much appreciated.

I'll report abck when I have soem sort of vuisuals for you guys.

Thanks

 

[Peter McFarlane]

For anyone who wants to see the tiled bottom effect that cichlaguapote mentioned it's here:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89002

Very useful for me to see that before I decide whether to go ahead with it in mine..

Thanks

 

[cichlaguapote]

Do it right and you won't need to fill or have gaps. No need to silicone them down either. So go there. Everyone remember length x width will give you your sq. footage. Can't wait to see it done though!

 

[ercnan]

Thought you said "bare bottom".
Tiles or anything else for that matter is not really "bare bottom"
Most tiles can be used. Just be sure they are not sprayed or otherwise impregnated with any fungicide/mildewcide/anti-bacterial/microbial chemicals.
It is a good look even if it's not "bare bottom". :j/k:

 

[Peter McFarlane]

cichlaguapote, see this image of my tank seals.... The silicone is super thick also the tank has re-inforced extra thick glass (god only know fish what was kept in this tank before). So yeah, I'm unable to lay the tiles from the sides without their being a slight gap (or the tiles won't be completley flat (because of the thick silicone)

So I'm thinking maybe lay a layer of sand to make it level surface then lay the tiles?

What do you advise on this?

Thanks

 

[cichlaguapote]

cichlaguapote, see this image of my tank seals.... The silicone is super thick also the tank has re-inforced extra thick glass (god only know fish what was kept in this tank before). So yeah, I'm unable to lay the tiles from the sides without their being a slight gap (or the tiles won't be completley flat (because of the thick silicone)

So I'm thinking maybe lay a layer of sand to make it level surface then lay the tiles?

What do you advise on this?

Thanks

Ahh I see.. I thought you meant gaps in between tiles. You're probably right unless there is some way to router tiles at an angle. Might have to go with a base layer of sand. Can't think of any other way to do it.