Natural Slate Tile - Aquarium Safe?

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Clurin

Melf
Sep 14, 2005
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Maynard, MA
I bought 10sqft of Natural Slate Tile from Home Depot. It is actual stone, not ceramic made to look like slate.

Is this aquarium safe? I haven't opened the packages yet, so I can still return them if it isn't. I plan to smash them up and make a terrace and cave structure out of them.

I've had difficulty finding a garden shop or chain store that actually has non-tile slate. All they have is Sandstone Slate which isn't slate.. it's sandstone that is slate gray in color. The workers never believe me when I tell them that, however.. :mad2:
 

Hannys_Papa

AC Members
Aug 31, 2005
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Upstate NY
Now this wont help you with your question so i hope you wont mind my post. How do you tell "real slate" and the sandstone slate apart. I was also thinking about getting some slate for caves and now dont want to make the mistake and get the wrong stuff.

The reason i want slate is because everywhere you read its said that its defenitely great for aquariums - doesnt mess up your paramters etc.
 

Clurin

Melf
Sep 14, 2005
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Maynard, MA
Real slate is layered. Sandstone is very dense and compacted, and has a sandy texture to it when you feel one of the rough edges. They are visually very different as well. If you go to an aquarium store, you can usually find some real slate "sized" for aquariums (and $2/lb where I am!). The tile I bought is probably about 50lbs and I paid $20.
 

wendyinwichita

AC Members
Oct 19, 2005
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Slate, but not the answer you are looking for

I am also hijacking your thread. Slate is incredibly hard to find it seems. I have picked up a few pieces at a LFS near me, but they don't have enough, or exactly what I am trying to find. I am looking for thin pieces that I can use in a planted aquarium. The few pieces I have don't do anything to my parameters. I was planning a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot to take a look at what they have. I have heard if you pour vinegar on the stone, if it bubbles it is no good for the aquarium. I think you can get samples of "tile" at Home Depot, so you could also get a sample and soak it in water that you know the parameters for a week or so, then test the parameters to see if they change. Just a thought, and I may try it myself.
 

Roan Art

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Oct 7, 2005
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Just a note: I'm an artist and often carve various stones. Slate is a common carving stone, with a Moh's scale hardness of 3 or 4. You can cut it with a band, table, or reciprocating saw. The slate hardness varies from deposit to deposit, keep that in mind. I've found "soapstone" (hardness 1-2) that we couldn't cut with the bandsaw and after checking it out, found out it was a steatite with a LOT of quartz in it (Moh's 7). Don't try cutting rock that has a lot of quartz with a bandsaw.

MANY states have quarries of slate and there may be one close to you. Do some searches on line for slate stone quarries. You can also check MinDat.org, which has slate quarries listed by state and some by country.

http://www.mindat.org/lsearch.php?loc=slate

Stones from quarries are cheap and they usually have odd pieces lying around. They'll also cut or smash them to size, or you can cut them yourself. They usually have pieces set aside for artists, too.

As an example:
I purchased 65 pounds of Black Pearl Soapstone (which is actually steatite, and not soapstone) for $100. That price included shipping and it works out to about .65 per pound. I had 3 rocks left (29, 19, and 5 pounds) and no time to carve atm, so I used them in my tank.

They're gorgeous rocks, and you can carve them if you want :)

No, I've never tested steatite or soapstone for the aquarium.

Roan

PS
If you want to try soapstone (there has to be someone who has used it or tested it), there's a HUGE soapstone quarry in Quebec for all you Canucks. Worth looking into.
 
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beblondie

grand high exhalted poobah
Mar 25, 2005
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I use the slate from Home depot all the time -Anne
 

mooman

Scratch my belly Human!
Mar 8, 2005
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Columbus, OH
I use some local slate in my aquariums (works great for caves and breeding sites for substrate brooding cichlids. I have however recently discovered that not all slate is completely inert. I use it in all my apisto tanks and have had the hardest time lowering the ph in them. It turns out that my local slate buffers the water to a ph of about 7.2. Taking two glasses of RO water, adding slate pieces to one and testing the ph a couple of days later proved it. Don't get me wrong, it's great stuff, but should be avoided if trying to spawn soft water dwarf cichlids that need an ultra low ph. Red slate is, from what I understand completely inert.

Clurin, the slate will work great for the A. cacatuoides as they don't require low ph to trigger spawning.
 

Clurin

Melf
Sep 14, 2005
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Maynard, MA
Wonderful! Thanks, moo, that's exactly the tank that it is for, lol! I also have about 20lbs of driftwood waiting on my doorstep for the tank. I plan to make a terrace, with a number of non-connecting caves. Since it won't be moving much, I am going to use Aquarium Safe silicone to hold it together.
 
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