Expanded pvc sealed with epoxy for tank bottom. Any issues?

[Teyhas]

I have a IM Nuvo 200EXT Peninsula arriving within the week. Had an idea to put a raised island down the middle of the tank to put the rockwork on with sand around the outside edge for my sand dwelling fish. Essentially a hybrid bare bottom/ sand bed. Figured I could gain the benefit of a bare bottom without detritus collecting around the rockwork where it is difficult to clean the sand and yet keep the aesthetics and habitat of the sand. Was wanting to have the island 2" high/ sand2" deep and was originally going to use some type of marine board for it. That ended up being around $500 that I would rather spend on other things. Then I had an idea for an alternative. Figured I could stack 1/2" expanded pvc board that was glued/welded together and then encase it epoxy resin. This would come at a quarter of the cost, would silicone to the bottom of the tank better and I would be able to sprinkle some sand onto the last coat of epoxy to keep the look fairly seamless. Other than coralline algae growing on the sanded epoxy is there any issue with the construction of the island I have mentioned? Any thought/ ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Matt.

 

[mdb_talon]

The only possibly issue I see is epoxy sticks very poorly to polyvinyl (your expanded PVC). It is not structural so not the end of the world but I think your sandwiched sheets could separate. I would look into a different material for creating your stacks.

 

[Teyhas]

Thanks for your reply. Was planning on using PVC cement to actually bond the stack together with the epoxy just being a sealant shell around the structure to keep water from contacting the board and give the silicone a better surface to stick to. Had read that if correctly prepped( sanded/ flame treated, similar to how you would HDPE for use with silicon) that the epoxy would stick to if well enough even if there wasn't an actual chemical bond. Picked up the PVC board this afternoon, will do some experiments on small pieces and report.

 

[mdb_talon]

Gotcha that may work better. I am sure sanding will also help. For s different hobby i use polyvinal as a work surface when using epoxy because easy peel off. That is why it caught my eye.