Sealing slate tiles

[SweeTeaGurl]

Hi, I've been doing research on tiling the bottom of my tank. I read slate/real stone is OK to use. The thing is it has some slight flaking on all the tiles I've seen. So I'm thinking of putting a clear coat over them to hold everything together and not have to worry about flakes in my tank. I read krylon is OK to use. Does it have to be fusion or can I use the krylon MAXX?
I also picked up GE 100% silicone for adhering the tiles and saw DAP all purpose aquarium safe adhesive sealant. Would it be better to use that? It's more expensive of course and only 2.8 FL oz.

 

[SweeTeaGurl]

I saw posts about slate but couldn't find anything about putting a clear coat on it.

 

[KCKme]

I had put slate in my very first axie tank - didn't put any clear coat on it. Used aquarium sealant to seal the tiles. Just be sure the seal is water tight. Mine wasn't, and oh the gunk that accumulated under. Now my tanks are just bare bottom.

 

[SweeTeaGurl]

Ok, thanks you for your response
Yeah I've read so much about securing the tiles, and scrubbing them clean. But I was still interested in sealing them, even though I read I don't need to. So that's what I was mostly curious about.

 

[Renette]

I know you are interested in sealing them and with this I can't help. I never sealed mine but I also just had it loose in the bottom of the tank so I could pick it up and rearrange them or clean up around them. I have had them in for 6 months and my water is clean and only one flake has ever come off.

 

[AxolotlChris]

I've done some digging around other forums and I've found that you can buy 2 part aquarium safe epoxy, but it would be a lot of work. You could also try using a foam brush to apply a coat of silicone

 

[SweeTeaGurl]

Ok, thanks so much for all the help everyone ^ ^
For now I'm going the easy route, bare bottomed.
I've decided it's more important to get my tank situation rolling rather than how pretty it looks. I'm definitely going to try out options in the meantime, maybe make a mini practice 10 gal at some point.

 

[AxolotlChris]

I was at my local aquatic/pet store last weekend and they had bits of slate, it looked solid couldn't see how anything could flake off it, just need to file the sharp bits off. maybe look at some different slate go to a different shop. I'd not bother with the clear coat, and just lay a few flat bits on the bottom of the tank for a nice effect.

 

[SweeTeaGurl]

Ok, thanks. Yeah I the ones I got at several different home depots were flaky. I got the sanding blocks to sand the sharp edges down but I worried about anything that might have been wedged in the cracks. And if it was going to be a problem for dust, shavings, trapping poop, I figured I'd rather just do nothing.