Questions about Slate

[plainlazy]

I want to build a cave out of some slate I bought at the lfs, should I boil the rocks before putting them in?
I read that somewhere, but they had gotten rocks off the side of the highway...

Can I use a hot glue gun to attach the pieces and make a cave? Will it be aquarium safe?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Ordinary glue is not going to be safe and you will have to buy special aquarium safe glue if you want to start glueing the slate peices together, boiling the slate might make it fall apart if the slate is not fossilzed enough so i would just wash them very thoroughly in warm tap water- definatly don't use any cleaning chemicals/soap to clean the slate, but i do stringly recommend you clean the rocks as much as you can if they came off the high way as anything could have come in contact with them like pesticides or petrol etc.

 

[colen]

I suggest that you just pour boiling water over the rocks. My peaces are always to large to boil but I am sure boiling will not harm then in anyway.

Do not use glue to stick your rocks together, just purchase 100% silicon. As long as it is 100% silicon it will be safe for in your tank. You can get this at any hardware store. I use a brand from GE.

Good luck!
Colen.

EDIT: Make sure that you give the silicon time to dry – do no put it in the tank while it is wet… give it a day or so.

 

[plainlazy]

Ok so no boiling for slate, and I bought this slate, it was someone else I'd read about who boiled rocks from the highway.

I'll see what I can find in the way of aquarium safe refills for a glue gun, but I doubt they'll be labeled as such. Anything more specific to look for in a glue? (Like model glue, epoxy etc...)

Thanks for your help

 

[plainlazy]

Too fast for me....

Pouring the water over the slate is good thinking, we have no crap pots to use anyways. Using boiling water would make me feel better about it too.

And I've seen that GE silicone at the hardware store, I guess I'm covered then.

This cave is gonna be sweet.......

 

[colen]

Not sure how much slate you bought, next time check out some garden centers or landscaping places. You'll beable to get large peace of slate for really cheap. They will likely be larger then you need, but they break easily with just a normal hammer (makes a mess though, one of those outdoor projects).

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Boil em and use silicoln to put them together. I dont use silicone, i just stack em ontop of eachother.

 

[plainlazy]

Yeah I have some just stacked in there already, didnt boil those just rinsed thoroughly, but I'll definitely boil these pieces.

I bought a big piece yeah, probably overpaid...but instead of a hammer I threw it off our 3rd floor balcony (wrapped in plastic) into the parking lot...got some nice pieces out of it