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I got a cup of very fine sand from a friend so I could make a sandpit for my bottomfeeders (cories, ottos, and a baby flounder).

Right now I've got the sand in a plastic cup thing sitting at the bottom of the tank. The fish run into the plastic, get stuck in the cup because they can't see it, etc. I'm trying to figure out how I can make a pit to put the sand in that would look natural (I've got a lot of live plants, and driftwood). I was thinking I could silicone some slate together to make a bowl shaped thing, but I'm not sure if that would work. I thought of just using a plain bowl, but that would just look dumb.

Any ideas?

If you don't like the look of a plastic bowl sitting on the bottom of the tank, maybe you should use some of that silicone to disguise it with gravel. That is probably easier than successfully building a leak-proof basin out of slate.

That could be a good way to do it.

The only problem is I wouldn't be able to see the fish inside it unless it was against the glass, which would look weird.

I might do that if nobody can come up with any better suggestions...

Thanks

Well, what I really have in my head is this: take the gravel-covered bowl, and mostly bury it - say, so that only 1/4 inch of the rim is sticking up above the gravel. Now fill that with sand and use gravel to disguise the sides. At this point the rim is at gravel-level (which is also sand-level) and that entire section of the substrate is basically flat. The cories can dig all they want in the sand and it will mostly stay in the bowl. Meanwhile the bowl itself is almost entirely buried and invisible.

get a shallow black plastic round frizbee

slice one 3rd off it, and stick pebbles around the outside with superglue and support them with silicone.
butt the sliced side up to the front of the glass so you can see under some of the sand and backfill with your ordinary gravel.

does that sound better?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I used a terra cotta pot...just plugged-up the bottom, filled it with sand, and buried it in the gravel.


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I really like that idea, Calla I think that's what I'll do.

Thanks for the replies, everybody. I appreciate it

I've seen on pet stores these reptile feeder plates made out of ceramic they are shallow enough and they have these slate looking finish to them, i would just varnish them or do a coat of silicone to make sure they don't leak anything into your tank.

Good Luck!

what about a large sized drip catch ( saucer ) for clay pots. they are made from the same material, have a low edge, and perfectly safe materials for fish. only problem i see with the frisbee idea is its plastic and some plastics give off a toxin that could be harmfull. i suppose dogs chew on them so iguess they would be ok, i just dont like takeing chances. the saucers are the same size or a multiple of other sizes. also come in different depths and if you dont like a depth can sand it down with a high grade paper. can also cut it half or waterever to butt up against the glass if you liked that idea. will take silicone great to attach other things like rocks and pebbles to camo it.
just a risk free thought. good luck, let us know how it comes out in either case.