A Kinder, Gentler Starboard. (Cheaper too!)

[Blorton]

I went barebottom for the latest tank and while I wanted to protect the bottom glass from falling rock, I didn't care for the expense or bright white harshness of starboard. (The seafoam color might've worked, cost aside.)

So I came up with an alternative....

1) Obtain relatively inexpensive 1/4" Lucite from HD
2) Trim to fit using a metal cutting blade in a variable speed jig saw set on sloooow.
3) Throw a rough sanding pad on a random orbit sander and hit both sides. Gives it a nice frosted glass look.

Check it out...




Full tank shot from too far away...



(Pardon the lack of arrangement there - those rocks just went into the tank from being in a life support bucket for several weeks. I'll arrange them later. )

The sheet was a 24x48 and was a little over $30. Thinner sheets are cheaper, but I wanted to protect the bottom glass as much as possible.

Anyways - I rather like the look and wanted to share.

Cheers!
Dan

[yardboy]

Hmmm, it does look good! While I would think it would be very susceptible to corraline, starboard is too. Very neat idea.

[Blorton]

Originally Posted by yardboy

Hmmm, it does look good! While I would think it would be very susceptible to corraline, starboard is too. Very neat idea.

Thanks! I wouldn't mind if corraline took to it. I had actually thought of trying the fake sandbed trick with some weldon, but didn't feel like going to the trouble.

Oh yea, another reason I did the sanding thing was to rough up the surface to help keep rock from sliding around. The fake sand would work a lot better for that. At least with the frosted treatment, any scratches won't be so noticeable.

Cheers!
Dan

[Geoff]

that is a neat clean look!!

G~

[GLXTRIX]

coraline will take to just about any plastic, so there is no way around that, besides, it's a good algea. Nice look, thanks for the headsup on this, think I'm gonna go check it out.

[three90s&125sump]

You can cut that with a circular saw. Thats how I cut it. The frosted thing is a good idea. I may be doing a fake sandbed but I'll have to drain my tanks if I do. I'm waiting to hear back from tom.

[reef_noob]

Looks Nice!
The only downside I can see is that the white starboard(or cutting board which is cheaper than starboard,) reflects a lot of light, helping to supplement light for understudy corals and lower light corals in shaded areas. This will have a lesser reflectivity.

[Blorton]

UPDATE

For anyone contemplating doing this, I now no longer recommend doing this. I've been moving some rock around and now have some garish score marks on the bottom. The bottom now looks as if someone scribbled on it with a white crayon and is quite unsightly. Ugh.

Dan

[Geoff]

sorry to hear that. thanks for the update though. great look while it lasted.

G~