"rustic Slate Rockery" Stone

nmonks · Mar 21, 2007

As the subject really... I'm looking to re-do an aquarium, and I'd like to use some of this stuff. Has anyone done so, and is it known to be safe with fish? I'm curious because the "reddish" colour on it seems to be iron. I know copper is bad in an aquarium, but is iron?

Thanks, Neale

Miss Wiggle · Mar 21, 2007

have you seen this thread which could help.... if not the wolfs the man to ask IMO

nmonks · Mar 21, 2007

Miss Wiggle,

Yes, saw that, but I suspect the slate in question is plain grey roofing tile stuff. I know that's safe. I'm more curious about the "rustic slate" that has some sort of oxidised iron on parts of it, like this.

I'm getting fed up with my Panaque destroying plants and shovelling sand into the filter.... so we're playing hardball now and I want to fill the tank with stuff she can't move: big stones and some sort of gravel or slate mulch on the bottom.

Cheers, Neale

Miss Wiggle said:
have you seen this thread which could help.... if not the wolfs the man to ask IMO

Miss Wiggle · Mar 21, 2007

ha ha hardball eh?!

i did think you may well have seen that topic, but thought it was worth pointing out incase you hadn't

nmonks · Mar 21, 2007

Better believe it. She is unbelievably destructive. When I put some fresh wood in there (out of a local stream) she shreds it immediately, literally creating a substrate of sawdust overnight. Very diffucult to keep the tank clean if it has plants in it. You need to siphone the stuff out daily. Most plants are uprooted or eaten. Java fern and moss are stripped away from and bogwood, so they're not an option (she doesn't eat those plants, just wants the yummy wood underneath!). It's a shame she's so adorable, as my life would be much easier if I simply re-homed her! But after 12 years I'm rather attached to her.

Cheers, Neale

Miss Wiggle said:
ha ha hardball eh?!

Miss Wiggle · Mar 21, 2007

yeah i was heartbroken to re-home my royal and I'd only had him for maybe 6 months.

but it was a nightmare, you simply couldn't keep the tank clean because of it, he's shred chunks of wood which the blocked up the siphon and you'd have to stop it every 2 minutes making water changes take 4 times as long as they should and meaning the sand never got properly clean...... then the cories in the tank started getting poorly cos of the dirty substrate and i realised something had to give.

I hadn't originally planned to have them together but combined 2 tanks and hadn't forseen that problem.

the only plants that did well were things like amazon swords with a massive root system on that just stay anchored regardless. only problem is getting the root system established before they get dug up once too many times and die. we ended up taking them from Ian's planted tank when they were grown up a bit and putting them in there.