Tile/Slate Bottoms?

[manateaparty]

Hi everyone,

For those of you who use tile or slate on the bottoms of your tanks, would you mind posting some pictures? I really like the idea but couldn't find very many pictures. I bought river rock but read about the tile option and I think it sounds really neat. Thanks so much for any help!

 

[mifuneaxie]

I use slate as my bottom and it works really well. The color is nice because it's more natural, and it's also easy to clean! I just got mine from Home Depot and had them precut the tiles to fit my tank's dimensions.

 

[manateaparty]

Oh, wow! That's very pretty. Are the tiles glued in or did you just place them in the tank? You just give them the measurements and they cut the tiles for you?

 

[Jennewt]

I don't know if you already found this page, but there are two examples here:
Caudata Culture Articles - Vivarium Building Projects

 

[Shizeric]

I've got a tile bottom as well, I'll take some pics shortly.

 

[Shizeric]

 

[mifuneaxie]

I just placed mine in my tank. I know some people silicon them in (axie safe silicon of course) but I thought that they were heavy enough that stuff wouldn't get under them really. There are some small gaps between them and the sides of my tank though, but I just have to occasionally suck stuff out from there, it's not an issue.

I just measured my tank and then I subtracted the glass thickness. As well as subtracting a little extra so that the pieces would actually fit and not scrape the glass. After calculations I found that I would need three pieces of slate cut to so and so measurements. Just depends on your tank size. Overall, choosing the slate was very easy. The people cut it for me and it wasn't expensive either. But don't forget to clean them thoroughly before putting them in an axie tank!

 

[manateaparty]

I just placed mine in my tank. I know some people silicon them in (axie safe silicon of course) but I thought that they were heavy enough that stuff wouldn't get under them really. There are some small gaps between them and the sides of my tank though, but I just have to occasionally suck stuff out from there, it's not an issue.

I just measured my tank and then I subtracted the glass thickness. As well as subtracting a little extra so that the pieces would actually fit and not scrape the glass. After calculations I found that I would need three pieces of slate cut to so and so measurements. Just depends on your tank size. Overall, choosing the slate was very easy. The people cut it for me and it wasn't expensive either. But don't forget to clean them thoroughly before putting them in an axie tank!

Thanks so much for the information. How did you clean them? Water and soap?

Also, I saw that your axie's name is Ponyo; I named my goldfish Ponyo! I'm so happy the film is finally out on dvd!

 

[bangadrum]

We have a slate bottom. We went for smaller slate tiles as we were building our tank on a very tight budget.

Pictures at my album in my profile or click here.

We siliconed them in as I was concerned that material could get underneath and decompose. With larger tiles you'd have less gaps and could sort a tighter fit, so it might be less of an issue.

 

[mifuneaxie]

Thanks so much for the information. How did you clean them? Water and soap?

Also, I saw that your axie's name is Ponyo; I named my goldfish Ponyo! I'm so happy the film is finally out on dvd!

Yeah, I just used my hose and regular soap. You have to scrub them for a while though, both sides, and then spray them with water for a while to make sure all the soap is gone.

That was my previous axie. I absolutely love that name, and the movie! Very cute, I love all his movies. Japan is amazing.