+Hydro Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 There are advantages of running a bare bottom in a QT, one reason is that you can vacuum the bottom and keep it clean and if your fish have ich you can vacuum up the resting cysts. The biggest disadvantage is that fish sometimes see their reflection in the bottom glass and it stresses them out. That got me thinking of how to make a natural looking bottom that I can vacuum. I decided to use fiberglass resin to glue down some aragonite. I put the fiberglass in a cup and added hardner, mixed well and poured it across bottom. I used a paint stir stick to spread it out evenly. I then sprinkled the aragonite over the bottom and mashed it down. I let it dry and then removed all the loose material. Here are some pics, I think it turned out great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dshel1217 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 like a spay in truck bed liner. Great Idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjr_wertheimber Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Good idea, great execution! You'll have to let us know how this works out in the long run. I just hope some wrasse doesn't try to bury himself in the sand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Thanks , ya wrasses will not appreciate it at all lol. One of my QT tanks will have a sand bottom for those guys. An idea that I had before is to get the aqua-mag guy to make me a fake rock bottom for a DT. This would be very good for beneficial bacteria and copepods since its so porous. I think that it would look really cool too.He could even leave little pockets to fill with sand for wrasses.I would try this with my next DT, too expensive for a QT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Think the resin will leech out any chemicals once its dry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Thanks , ya wrasses will not appreciate it at all lol. One of my QT tanks will have a sand bottom for those guys. An idea that I had before is to get the aqua-mag guy to make me a fake rock bottom for a DT. This would be very good for beneficial bacteria and copepods since its so porous. I think that it would look really cool too.He could even leave little pockets to fill with sand for wrasses.I would try this with my next DT, too expensive for a QT. I saw a guy's thread once where he hid a small bucket of sand behind his rockwork specifically for his wrasse to burrow in. He had a bare bottom tank. It also gave the advantage of being able to catch the wrasse pretty easily when it was sleeping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Think the resin will leech out any chemicals once its dry? From what I understand it shouldn't as long as its cured properly. I looked around and found this info on 2 different websites one of which was written by a veterinarian, I won't take any chance and I'll do as it says. Another website recommended to do this same routine with 100 degree water. Fiberglass polyethylene, and polypropylene liners are all relatively inert materials. They do need to be carefully leached to remove toxic metals and plasticizers used during the manufacturing process. One leaching procedure is to soak the material in HCL (pH 3.0) for 24 hours, then at pH 11.0 with sodium hydroxide for 24 hours, repeat the pH 3.0 for 24 hours, and finally rinse with salt water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Think the resin will leech out any chemicals once its dry? From what I understand it shouldn't as long as its cured properly. I looked around and found this info on 2 different websites one of which was written by a veterinarian, I won't take any chance and I'll do as it says. Another website recommended to do this same routine with 100 degree water. Fiberglass polyethylene, and polypropylene liners are all relatively inert materials. They do need to be carefully leached to remove toxic metals and plasticizers used during the manufacturing process. One leaching procedure is to soak the material in HCL (pH 3.0) for 24 hours, then at pH 11.0 with sodium hydroxide for 24 hours, repeat the pH 3.0 for 24 hours, and finally rinse with salt water. That article is talking about the mat itself. I believe the resin leaches out the chemical during the drying process, thats what causes it to get HOT as the chemical react. I have seen tank builds with 1/2" glass for the front and plywood sides lined with fiberglass mat. I dont thn k it will be an issue. LOOKS GREAT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 There was some concern about the heat and the use of resins on glass tanks, but as long as it didn't shatter on you, then you should be ok, but be warned about exothermic reactions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 Good point. I did think about it getting hot when curing so I didn't mix as much hardner as recommended. It takes it a little longer to dry but it didn't get too hot. That's a good thing to bring up though in case anyone else wants to try this, I used about 3/4 of the recommended hardner per ounce of resin. offroadodge I agree with you but I don't want to take any chances just in case. I went ahead and put a few inches of water in the tank and used ph down to drop it below 3.0 for the first part of the curing cycle. Took me just a couple of minutes, no big deal. I'm going to do this for 2 more of my QT tanks, a 75 gallon and a 55 gallon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 I thought I should update this in case anyone was thinking of doing the same thing. The fiberglass resin still has a strong smell even after curing like was suggested and with giving it a few weeks. I did some research and decided to coat the bottom with a clear fish safe epoxy that is made to cover materials like fiberglass resin. In hindsight I would have just used the clear expoxy to glue the rocks down, would have saved one step. Oh well, I still have one to do. Here is what I'm using Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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