Melanurus sand box?

[Trey]

While in preparation of my current build I have been planning which fish I will be stocking. I would like a wrasse for pest control primarily and really love the way melanurus wrasses look. The tank will be bare bottom however. Knowing full well that melanurus wrasses need sand to hide and sleep in, I came up with an idea I have not seen..
Many people use tupperwares of sand in their BB tanks to keep halichoeres, which doesn’t look great imho. But! What about taking a nice chunk of dry rock and shaping / sealing the inside to act as a sort of sand box for the wrasse? It would look more natural than a plastic tub, and meet the needs of the wrasse at the same time.

Share pics if you’ve done this please!

 

[Chef Mateo]

I haven't done this but I was actually planning to do this for my next build but ended up on deciding to do a full sand tank

This was the semi planned scape The sand is on the left side kept in by LR



Sorry if the pic is bad

 

[Trey]

I haven't done this but I was actually planning to do this for my next build but ended up on deciding to do a full sand tank

This was the semi planned scape The sand is on the left side kept in by LR



Sorry if the pic is bad

Interesting. Great art skills btw ;)

I wonder if that sand would stay put on that end of the tank in heavy flow.

With the idea I am proposing, the rock could be placed in an area that wouldn’t blow all of the sand out. And could be removed to dump old sand and replace with new. I don’t want the Chore of vacuuming sand every day!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I've seen a couple of nice custom sandboxes on here but of course I can't seem to find the right combination of search terms to bring them up. One was a DIY and the other was special ordered from somewhere. But both very much along the lines of what you're looking for, so I'd say yes, very doable!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Just recently someone did it and it looked good. Just make sure it is large enough for the full grown wrasse and deep enough. They will find it.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Found one: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/stax-of-rocks-in-a-glass-box.376687/page-6#post-7592366

 

[Trey]

Found one: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/stax-of-rocks-in-a-glass-box.376687/page-6#post-7592366

Nice! Thanks

 

[evolved]

Alternative Reef used to make exactly what you describe:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wrasse-dens-in-stock-limited-amount-available.150699/
Any solution, however, will require you to occasionally vacuum up the stray sand. The fish is going to flick some sand out regularly no matter how you attack this.