Starboard on top of bottom glass - Silicone it in place or just lay it down?

[mandarin417]

Do you just lay starboard on the bottom tank glass or do you silicone it in place?

I know it floats without rocks on top of it.

 

[Seymo44]

I haven’t used starboard for this purpose before. I’ve always just uses egg crate.

I don’t silicone it in place, I just put my rock structure directly on the egg crate and then add substrate. I would likely use the same method for starboard.

 

[Cell]

Silicone prevents debris/detritus from working its way under the starboard.

 

[mandarin417]

What thickness do you recommend?

 

[BillFish Coral Lover]

Definitely silicone! I sent with 1/2". Most will tell you it's unnecessary, but I went with it because I expect to move quite a bit and want this tank to last forever.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I thought silicone would not stick to starboard or HDPE? I am grappling with the same question, silicone my HDPE bottom sheets down or just use rocks and weight to hold them down. I am wondering if they will start to get 'wavy' if using only rocks?

 

[mandarin417]

On a smaller tank, I applied lots of silicone beading underneath and the HDPE stuck. Oh my new tank, I am going to put a blob of silicone at a few places around the edge of the star board just to hold it in place if I remove rocks so it won't float up.

 

[PanhandleReef]

I may be wrong, but I remember reading if you silicone it you need to lightly go over the starboard with a torch before as kind of a curing process to get the silicone to stick.

Edit: Now I remember I saw it on @Reefahholic YouTube channel for his tank build.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I would be applying a beat of silicone around the entire outside in an attempt to prevent movement and detritus working its way under.

 

[jcolliii]

Don't silicone it. That way, if/when you get sick of it, it will be easy to remove.

I tried it for an ultra clean bare bottom look. The textured surface makes it impossible to keep coralline off of. I think a solid 3/8" thick piece of polished teflon might do it, but that sounds really spendy. Dunno what your goals are, but if easy to clean and no coralline is one, it's going to be tough. BTW, I also tried delrin (acetal). It's denser than water and smoother than HDPE (starboard), but it's pretty expensive and you have to be careful cutting it as it can shatter. Coralline still grows on it.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Don't silicone it. That way, if/when you get sick of it, it will be easy to remove.

I tried it for an ultra clean bare bottom look. The textured surface makes it impossible to keep coralline off of. I think a solid 3/8" thick piece of polished teflon might do it, but that sounds really spendy. Dunno what your goals are, but if easy to clean and no coralline is one, it's going to be tough. BTW, I also tried delrin (acetal). It's denser than water and smoother than HDPE (starboard), but it's pretty expensive and you have to be careful cutting it as it can shatter. Coralline still grows on it.

I am not concerned about keeping it coralline free. In fact, I expect to have it more likely covered with tiles of varying sizes for encrusting corals to populate. The starboard would just be for those oops moments where I accidentally lose my grip on a rock while picking it up or placing back in the tank and don't want my glass bottom to absorb the impact.

By using removable tiles, I hope to be able to use them as a means to control encrusting corals types to stop fast growing corals from overtaking and overwhelming the slower growers.

So I am not really looking for the white bottom look, just for functionality.

 

[a.t.t.r]

I am not concerned about keeping it coralline free. In fact, I expect to have it more likely covered with tiles of varying sizes for encrusting corals to populate. The starboard would just be for those oops moments where I accidentally lose my grip on a rock while picking it up or placing back in the tank and don't want my glass bottom to absorb the impact.

By using removable tiles, I hope to be able to use them as a means to control encrusting corals types to stop fast growing corals from overtaking and overwhelming the slower growers.

So I am not really looking for the white bottom look, just for functionality.

I use egg crate for this reason

 

[Simon_M]

Do you just lay starboard on the bottom tank glass or do you silicone it in place?

I know it floats without rocks on top of it.

I found this video on cutting and using starboard.



When adding rock to my aquarium before putting sand around it, I also considered using something underneath to prevent scratching the bottom of a new aquarium. I considered putting something like small square under the equivalent of starboard but eventually decided to round the rough points off the rocks using a grit paper.

Another way is to put clingfilm on a surface and then use the same rock cement to make small feet. The clingfilm can then be pealed off. I found that adding rock to a tank of water and putting it in the final position, first time with the base rounded worked without issues. In the video the starboard will sink with the weight of some rock and then stay in place when the rock is removed. Since a tank has decoration, this will likely, further keep it in place.

In the video it shows the difficulty of removing the starboard. I would probably have wrapped a rubberband around it to have something to pull on - scissors in a tank wouldn't be my first choice.

Simon

 

[Simon_M]

I would second the not to silicone it down. It makes it hard to remove and you don't want the silicone to bond to the silicone holding the tank together - remove one and you might disturb the other?

The video showed how to "simply" cut the board to size - but using a "plethora" of tools that not everyone has access to. I have cut plastic off the corner of a lid for 10 litre IKEA container - so that the power and pipe for my ATO could be inserted. I used a bandsaw and then cleaned up the edge with 3 grades of grit (sandpaper) against a board. Result looks professional in my eyes. Cutting the board to only slightly oversize and then sanding with a block would be my choice and it's easy enough to bevel the edges if that's what you want.

What seems very buoyant at the start may become stubbornly attached to the bottom later on. So it may be wise to plan for this in the beginning. A couple of drilled holes towards the corners probably wouldn't show too much and if you tap these holes e.g. screw in a bolt to create a thread, they can be later reinserted to give you something to pull on - just don't keep the bolts in the tank to prevent corrosion.