Clay Pots

I think pots make great decorations myself. Will only terracotta pots work, or can I use a different kind that isn't painted? I've never actually put anything in a tank before that wasn't specificaly made to go in one.
 
Hubby used his drimel (spelling?) tool. I boiled the pots first, for about ten minutes. I actually think this caused one of them to have a hairline crack, but it hasn't affected the pot.

The pot was easier to cut when wet. I actually learned this method from this site.

NOTE: A great touch is to smear some silicone inside the pot or on the outside wherever you like, and put some of your aquarium sand or gravel on it. It then looks like they are really a part of the aquascape.

I thought about making some more and seeing if I can sell them through the LFS, this site, or ebay. What do ya'll think?

I'll try to post pics Monday.
 
Yes, I used a hammer to bust out the bottoms of two small pots, and then used a dremmel to smooth the edges of the inside and outside so that my fish wouldn't get hurt swimming through them. I didn't boil them, but I rinsed them off in warm water. You probably could sell them, if you made them elaborate enough. I'm not familiar with silicone, so I would rather buy some premade ones :)
 
All this talk of terra cotta pot caves, I think I might be off to the hardware store for some bigger ones, and to the LFS for some java moss/fern! On a side note, everyone knows the common cotton thread method of fixing java to decorations, but one of the employees at a petstore filled me in on her way - a dab of aquarium silicone!
 
I used a Rotary Tool with a reinforced fiberglass cutoff wheel,and sandpaper for the edges.Broken pots are cool too.Also using a hole saw bit with a drill is good for smaller fish.My Kribs are spawning in a pot that I cut a 2" diameter hole in,she stays in the pot,while the male defends,so cool. :thm:
 
I like the diea of adding plants to them. I might add some hanging plants to hang over the top so they actually look like cave openings. I'm running a 20g right now, so I don't really have room for a whole system, but it sounds very interesting.

I'm going to be adding aire rocks in mine so it will bubble out of it, add a cool effect and a little oxygen at the same time. Any other sugestions are welcome.
 
Siren said:
My concern would be how to sterilize the pots? Can you use the boiling water method, or will that crack the pots?

I'm getting a 5 gallon flat back hex next week...might set something like this up as part of the tank. Thanks for the idea... :)
Click to expand...

You could put them in a kiln. If you have access to one.
 
I used a sheerock knife-after several scores - the cut breaks nicely- rinse several times while scoring. These are cheap enough to just tap w/ a hammer and see what you get! The breaks look more natural-this way
 
Man, terra cotta is more abrasion resistant than I expected. I bought a 12" pot tonight with the intent to cut it in half and put it in my 150. I forgot that I only had a 1/4" thick wheel for my grinder so I was stuck using it. It took a lot more effort than I anticipated. Mission accomplished and installed in the tank and it looks dynamite. The fish are loving it as well. The silly part is, I'm just going to pull the pieces out again as soon as I get some javas.
 
Here's what I did with my pots so far. I ended up breaking five small ones, and got these pieces to begin with. I just wrapped them in a dishtowel then wacked them with a hammer. I found if I hit it slightly at an angle, instead of straight on, it made for different breakages. I have a few more pieces going in to another tank too. Filed the rough edges, and voila....I'll probably use the smaller pieces left over (crush them up a bit) and use them as filter media since they are so porus.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98524
 
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