I needed to make some hiding spots in a tank and after looking at some ready made items and the prices, I decided to get some slate tiles at Lowes. For ten 12" x 12" natural slate tiles it cost $15.00. After breaking up some pieces, they look like they are going to work great.
(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/slate/800x600_slate.JPG)
(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/slate/800x396_slate_001.jpg)
With a piece of slate behind the stacked pieces they make perfect little caves. I've got some soaking in an empty, (of fish), tank at the moment. They don't appear to have anything on them except for some slate dust which rinses right off.
Dennis
let me know if this works out. I have been needing some more slate, but was afraid that they used something in them that was harmful to fish
Some local quarries, and gravel pits, will let you load up on gravel and flat rock pretty cheap too..
I have gotten scraps of rock or synthetic rock-like counter materials from recycling bins at some local counter (as in kitchen counter) making businesses.
Not all natural looking lke dennis's smashed up slate but cheap, rock-like, food grade, and free.
Some trivia....we have a city in southeast Michigan named Flat Rock.
What other rock towns are up there..... Flint... Rockford... You folks just love your geology. lol lol
Dennis
This is timely...! I just finished making a set of ''caves'' similar to that to go in one of the school tanks. It's got Af Cichs in it. I used silicon to stack them and keep them together! I have some flagstones that I'm going to take a hammer to and do te same for my clown loach tank.
Nice touch Denis!
Thanks Ron! I was thinking I'd just stack mine without gluing them together with silicon. With the nice flat surfaces they seem to be very stable. I'd like to be able to rearrange them and take them apart for cleaning. I've seen some photos where they stack slate using pleco caves in between layers too. Looks pretty cool.
Dennis
And I can make those pleco caves to fit in between layers of slate!
Barb
Quote from: Barb on March 19, 2013, 11:47:45 AM
And I can make those pleco caves to fit in between layers of slate!
As soon as I figure out the size caves I want I'll be in touch Barb!
Dennis
I love watching a plan come together....... ;D
I have used those tiles for breeding slates also they will cut them to size in the store for free
Quote from: BallAquatics on March 19, 2013, 11:52:34 AM
Quote from: Barb on March 19, 2013, 11:47:45 AM
And I can make those pleco caves to fit in between layers of slate!
As soon as I figure out the size caves I want I'll be in touch Barb!
Dennis
Thanks Dennis, anytime!
Barb
Dennis, I siliconed them together because they went in a Malawi Cichlid tank and when they dig, rocks can fall. Prior to glueing them together in the past they have pinned fish beneath and led to their deaths. Also they could fall over and crack a tank's glass.
I've also siliconed pieces of driftwood together to make a larger piece to fit in a certain place in a tank.
Quote from: Ron Sower on March 20, 2013, 09:26:48 AM
I siliconed them together because they went in a Malawi Cichlid tank.....
I completely understand Ron, damn cichlids! LOL LOL LOL I loved them dearly for 30 years and then just got tired of them one day. I had thought I would 'glue' mine together too, but after playing around with them a bit, I think they will be OK without the silicone. .....no cichlids in sight :P
Dennis
I recently rehomed all my Afs. They were a great bunch! I miss them a little from time to time.
I looked at some slate at both Mensnard's and The Hey Homies depot. The stuff they had sure looked sort of scary to me. I may swing by The So Slowes to check out their stuff too. It had a bunch of rust and crystals and a lot of copper colored weird junk in it. I took a pass on it. It gave me the fears. I wanted to build some spawning platforms for my pairs. I'm looking at what to use for the bond agent. I bought a couple of tubes of Loctite's glass repair glue which is cyanoacrylate, same as all of the marine glues on the specialty sites, toxic prior to bonding, then it hardens and is supposed to be non toxic. I figure Hey, this stuff is for gluing your stem ware back together and the Germans make it. They are sort of nutso in Europe over toxic stuff so it is prolly a good bet it is safe, No?. It is basically crazy glue or even more basically it is the acrylic clear coat used on our car paint jobs. I decided to use a couple of slate patterned porcelain tiles for this instead of the true slate. Next day or so I'll set up my wet saw and make a couple of them, some caves and other odd stuff.
Have a hot glue gun too but I don't think it will make a durable bond to porcelain.
Thats what i was afraid of to. The slate i saw at menards looked like it had other things in it.Thats why i was asking Dennis to let me know how it worked out for him
Quote from: ilroost on March 23, 2013, 04:27:45 PM
.....Thats why i was asking Dennis to let me know how it worked out for him
Well, so far so good. I've got it in 3 different tanks with fish. One of the things that attracted me to it was that it is a low grade of slate. By that I mean a low construction grade. It's not very uniform in thickness, and some of the edges are not the best. Since it is a low grade, it hasn't been polished or chemically treated to make it more visually appealing.
If you have doubts, you should probably not use this material though. I have a reputation for not following the established rules of keeping fish... over-stocked tanks, massive water changes, using rain water, etc. :o :o :o
Dennis
I hear you, i don't exactly follow all the rules either lol.
glad to see it's working out cause i want to get some to
Did yours have like chunks of rust on it too? The stuff I saw was really rough looking.
No chunks of rust. It is multi-colored as you can see in the photos. As shale is typically made up of sediments composed of clay or volcanic ash, I am just assuming the yellow and orange colors are more clay than ash.
Dennis
I'll have to do some fish testing. I like this slate a lot but I'm just worried about the stuff by me. Your cave looks great and I really do want to make a couple.
Quote from: Frank The Plumber on March 25, 2013, 07:38:24 AM
Your cave looks great and I really do want to make a couple.
When I took that photo, there weren't any fish in the tank. There are now 6 Tiger Limia and 6 juvie L201's in with the slate. Two of the 201's took over the bottom level of the cave and two are on the back-side of long slate angled against the tank sides. The other two are just out and about.
I'll keep you posted if I run into any issues.
Dennis
I have used this slate for a while. Have not had any problems as of yet.(http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr191/Prairiedog112/013.jpg)
Ok going to buy some this weekend. I think it will be just fine. I was thinking like Frank, kinda worried about the different colors and if it was safe
Quote from: ilroost on March 25, 2013, 07:20:35 PM
Ok going to buy some this weekend. I think it will be just fine. I was thinking like Frank, kinda worried about the different colors and if it was safe
You can always polyurethane them .....I've dipped things in it, and let dry well...easier to clean too...never had any issues..