Starboard BB Reef Questions

[Medicine Man]

Having a 360 gallon tank (96x36x24) made and planning to go BB. Curiosity, does Starboard float? Should it be fixed down with silicone? Also, what color does everyone find appealing? I'm afraid white will look dirty over time. Thanks for the help!

[gregrex]

Yup, it floats. I just weighed it down with rocks, but I suppose you'll have to have rock in the middle of each piece to keep the ends from floating up.

I believe others have siliconed the edges to keep detritus from gathering underneath. I'm sure that would work too.

[nauticac4]

The white will color up with coraline over time.

[Devtech]

Originally posted by nauticac4
The white will color up with coraline over time.

what ever color u get it will cover up with coraline, my friends BB tank he went with black starboard and it ended up being this dark purple over time, but you can get an urchin and have him be the cleaning crea for the coraline on the floor.

[mako417]

Some people have glued sand to the Star Board using PVC glue. The provides a more natural look with all of the benefits of a BB.

[Medicine Man]

Mako, does the sand stay put or does it eventually come loose? do you have to go back over it with anything after you apply the sand?

[mako417]

From what I have read and personally seen...the application of PVC Glue and Sand is messy...REALLY MESSY!! Spread down an even coat of PVC Glue and poor on the sand, pat it down...allow it to dry and then poor of the excess sand. You normally have some holes to patch or cover up but once you get it coated your pretty good to go.

I can not attest to how it holds up over time...but my guess would be that you might loose some over time but it will eventually get covered by coralline algea anyway.

On one of the forums a guy has pics of his attempt and actually show a running pump sitting directly on the sand\glue star board....and no sandstorm...very cool.

Good luck on your new tank...I saw your rock cooking away at Fish's today. Hope to see some pics of your tank sometime.

[tanked3333]

I also just completed using starboard and coating it with crushed coral

and glued with PVC on a 170 gallon tank..I think it looks great...I put

silicone on the seams and pushed in some cc...looks natural and no

problem with sand storms! This is easy to do, but use lots o pvc glue

and let it sit for a couple of days..the smell is amazingly strong.

[mako417]

Medicine Man where are you getting your Star Board from? I need to get some for a new project (40Breeder).

Thanks,

Mako417

[Medicine Man]

Well, Scott at Aquatic Systems Design in KC is building a 360 Gallon Acrylic tank for me. I asked him to go ahead and get the starboard so that he can drill the closed loop holes into it. He is getting it from HERE
Which color do you like? I thought maybe the "Seafoam" would be a good compromise between white and the "sanshade". Of course it all becomes covered with coraline but it will take a while.

[uhuru]

If you are having a custom acrylic tank made you should just tell scott to use white or black acrylic for the bottom panel, no need for starboard, no chance of anything getting stuck underneath - same looks. That is how James @ Envision built my tank when I asked for starboard.

[Medicine Man]

Good thought uhuru. I have sent Scott an email asking about that. Thanks for the suggestion!