webcat5
Fish Crazy
OohFeeshy said:Well you could have thought about what you were typingwhats next...
'Can I put a betta in my glass tank or will it disolve?'
Hey! And you thought I was a Smarta$$Is ceramic okay to put in the aquarium?
- Thread starter Raechal
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Hey! And you thought I was a Smarta$$
Termato
Fish Fanatic
10 years later I found this thread (google)!! I wanted to clear some things up for everyone. I'm a ceramic and glass artist who happens to keep fish.
Slip is what you call clay that has a lot of water added to it. It's slippery and usually used to alter the clay piece your are working on in some way. It is not the the name for unfired ceramics--clay.
"A slip is a suspension in water of clay and/or other materials used in the production of ceramic ware." Wikipedia
Food safe ceramics is usually glazed. Clay is porous and will soak up liquids. This is why we fire a coating of glaze (silica with metals and other minerals) to create a mostly impermeable surface. Glaze is glass fused over the ceramic. NOT ALL Glazes are food safe. In ceramics, we use a firing technique called Raku which doesn't bring the piece up to as hot of a temperature. Raku traps carbon in the clay and the glaze during a reduction process along with many other potentially toxic chemicals/metals. This kind of firing doesn't vitrify the clay and these ceramic pieces are not safe for food or the aquarium. Vitrified clay is far less porous than normal clay. The glaze on raku pieces is also likely to leach.
Porcelain and pure clays that have less impurities can actually be impermeable without glaze. Example: porcelain you can see through and is unglazed that is food safe. Most functional pottery ware is food safe as they are fired in Cone 6 or 10 with food safe glazes (safe metals and chemicals in the glaze) or use a food safe clay without glaze. I would avoid using ceramics with matte glazes, unless you are certain it is food safe, in the aquarium.
Ceramic ware is even being used in filters now! There are many kinds of ceramics out there and I do agree that if it says food safe or baby safe, that is a good thing to go by. If it's a custom made piece, just ask who made it. If you're unsure, you could try asking or just play it safe and not use it.
As far as ceramics deteriorating in water, it happens but at an extremely slow rate. I can't speak much to this fact as I have no personal experience with it.
I want to point out that you should usually AVOID RED glazes unless specifically marked as food safe. Older red glazes had a lot of lead in them. New glazes don't, unless you purchase it that way. Red is very hard to achieve in glass therefore people will put a lot of weird metals into the glaze.
Ceramics to avoid putting into your aquarium
Most glass is safe to put in your aquarium. A lot of the times, when you see color on glass, it's fused into the glass (just like in ceramic glaze). Hand blown soft glass will usually have the color fused in between two layers of clear glass while hard glass usually fuses the color on the outside (different techniques vary in application method though). Glass that has the color painted over could be problematic. You would be able to feel the texture.
Glass that is not ok for the aquarium:
Good sources to read:
About glass leaching - feve.org
Slip is what you call clay that has a lot of water added to it. It's slippery and usually used to alter the clay piece your are working on in some way. It is not the the name for unfired ceramics--clay.
"A slip is a suspension in water of clay and/or other materials used in the production of ceramic ware." Wikipedia
Food safe ceramics is usually glazed. Clay is porous and will soak up liquids. This is why we fire a coating of glaze (silica with metals and other minerals) to create a mostly impermeable surface. Glaze is glass fused over the ceramic. NOT ALL Glazes are food safe. In ceramics, we use a firing technique called Raku which doesn't bring the piece up to as hot of a temperature. Raku traps carbon in the clay and the glaze during a reduction process along with many other potentially toxic chemicals/metals. This kind of firing doesn't vitrify the clay and these ceramic pieces are not safe for food or the aquarium. Vitrified clay is far less porous than normal clay. The glaze on raku pieces is also likely to leach.
Porcelain and pure clays that have less impurities can actually be impermeable without glaze. Example: porcelain you can see through and is unglazed that is food safe. Most functional pottery ware is food safe as they are fired in Cone 6 or 10 with food safe glazes (safe metals and chemicals in the glaze) or use a food safe clay without glaze. I would avoid using ceramics with matte glazes, unless you are certain it is food safe, in the aquarium.
Ceramic ware is even being used in filters now! There are many kinds of ceramics out there and I do agree that if it says food safe or baby safe, that is a good thing to go by. If it's a custom made piece, just ask who made it. If you're unsure, you could try asking or just play it safe and not use it.
As far as ceramics deteriorating in water, it happens but at an extremely slow rate. I can't speak much to this fact as I have no personal experience with it.
I want to point out that you should usually AVOID RED glazes unless specifically marked as food safe. Older red glazes had a lot of lead in them. New glazes don't, unless you purchase it that way. Red is very hard to achieve in glass therefore people will put a lot of weird metals into the glaze.
Ceramics to avoid putting into your aquarium
- Raku because of heavy metals and highly porous surfaces
- Lead based glazes
- Heavy metal glazes
- Used ceramics - you don't know what it has absorbed
- Ceramics with additives
- Ceramics not marked as food or baby safe (unless otherwise certain)
Most glass is safe to put in your aquarium. A lot of the times, when you see color on glass, it's fused into the glass (just like in ceramic glaze). Hand blown soft glass will usually have the color fused in between two layers of clear glass while hard glass usually fuses the color on the outside (different techniques vary in application method though). Glass that has the color painted over could be problematic. You would be able to feel the texture.
Glass that is not ok for the aquarium:
- Crystal because it has lead in it.
- Antique glass - usually has a high lead content almost at the level of crystal.
- Gold / Silver leaf on external of glass - some pieces of glass have gold leaf on the outside. This isn't food or aquarium safe.
- Painted glass - as I mentioned above, most of these paints are not safe for food or the aquarium
- Heavy metal colors - if a piece of glass is known to have a color with heavy metals in it, better not to risk it.
- Unsealed Mirror glass - There is a solution you can use to create mirror glass just by putting the liquid on the glass. If unsealed, these chemicals will leach into the water
- Uranium glass - It's radioactive up to around 3 feet
Good sources to read:
About glass leaching - feve.org
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