Is clay aquarium-safe?

[Fish_Mike]

Hey, is clay aquarium safe? Are there different types of clay and if so, which ones ARE aquarium safe? I'd like to use it as my substrate, so, just wondering! Thanks

 

[Teelie]

Depends on the clay but yeah, it can be safe the downside is it will cloud your water up really, really badly and take forever to properly settle and then any kind of disturbance, up it goes.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Arggh, really? I may have to reconsider

 

[xamdarb]

what about playdouigh haha

 

[Teelie]

Definitely not playdough. There's all kinds of stuff in it. It's "kid safe" but that doesn't mean fish safe.

Alot of the rivers that are muddy, are muddy because of high clay content in them, not just mud (clay is basically like compacted mud with a few small differences in it).

 

[Fish_Mike]

I see, and would the dirtyness really be that noticible? Or if setting up the aquarium in a natural way, would the muddines just blend in or look fine? Is the muddiness of the water dangerous to the fish?

Thanks

 

[Teelie]

It really depends on the clay, the amount of disturbance in the water and the fish. Some fish need pristine clean water and others can do fine in the dirtier water. I'm not an expert on it by any means and I've never seen a tank that had a clay substrate so I don't know anything beyond the broad basics.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Hmm, well i guess i could try it out anyway. I'm 100% sure that the fish i'm getting are wild-caught and therefore i could imagine the clay in their natural environment they are used to.

How would i go about syphoning such a substrate

 

[Teelie]

No idea. Maybe like sand with the siphon hovering but clay is so much lighter it would probably just get sucked up too.

 

[Fish_Mike]

I may use stand instead of the clay, however, as i had planned anyways, i'm going to have a thin layer of leaf litter with mud. Thats basically what i'm worried about cleaning.

 

[The-Wolf]

many landscape gardeners in my area offer the choice of clay lining ponds. I don't see any problem(apart form the cloudyness) with it being unsafe to use in an aquarium, providing the clay has come from a polution free excavation site.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

i was wondering the same thing. im taking ceramics this year, and they have a whole bunch of recycled clay that we are supposed to use. is recycled clay good?

Edit: oh yeah, is non-toxic glaze fish safe?

 

[itZme]

Fish_Mike,

I would be afraid of using clay/mud as a substrate as it will be so dense that there would be no circulation through it and it would seem to me that you would end up with pockets of anaerobic bacteria forming. Maybe it would be different if the fish are digging around through the mud but if it is just setting on the bottom in a solid form I would be afraid of it.

If you do try it and have no probs then maybe you could add a response to the pinned thread about sand in the FAQ section to help others later.

by Dorkhedeos " oh yeah, is non-toxic glaze fish safe?"

I thought I read that fired clay (flower pots for example) would be ok but not glazed items.
Try a forum search using the term "glaze" or "ceramic".

I know I have seen someone making "pleco caves" from clay at a snail forum that I visit. they are just tubes that taper down at one end.

-- itZme

 

[Fish_Mike]

I see the problem about the pockets. What fish exactly stir up the substrate to keep these from happening? I know corys do, but would they actaully dig deep enough to make a difference?

 

[Dubby]

Clay is great for planted tanks. I use clay mixed with vermiculite as the bottom layer of my substrate. There is a top layer of sand that prevents the clay from clouding the tank. Also makes it easier to clean the tank.