# Fossilized Marble Background



## Bikeman48088 (Nov 13, 2013)

Every winter, Tucson becomes the epicenter for fossil, mineral and bead dealers. One of the most striking items that I saw was an entire sink, vanity and mirror made using fossilized marble. It was absolutely gorgeous, with raised polished trilobites and other fossils imbedded in it, naturally. To my amazement, the entire set was only $600.
That got me thinking about using fossilized marble as a background in my 6' long tank and was wondering if anyone has ever used this stuff before. Is there a danger of leaching something hazardous out of fossilized marble? 
Here's an example of what I'm thinking of using:


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## lvrider (Mar 18, 2014)

how hard would it be to attach that marble to the back of the tank so you dont have to worry about leeching etc?


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## Bikeman48088 (Nov 13, 2013)

lvrider said:


> how hard would it be to attach that marble to the back of the tank so you dont have to worry about leeching etc?


The fossils are raised above the base marble. This would prevent it from being pressed flush to back of tank. The more I think of it, the less feasible it appears. That much weight focused along the back of the tank would put great stress on tank bottom, unless I put in a full, under-sand support to even out load.


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## Thalas_shaya (Mar 10, 2014)

Just for the record, marble is limestone after metamorphosis (extremes of heat and pressure) have rearranged the structure of the molecular arrangement into a more crystalline, less organic/sedimentary arrangement. So it's less likely to leach carbonates into your water, unless your water is pretty acidic, and you can think of it functionally as a toughened/condensed limestone.


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## Bikeman48088 (Nov 13, 2013)

Thalas_shaya said:


> Just for the record, marble is limestone after metamorphosis (extremes of heat and pressure) have rearranged the structure of the molecular arrangement into a more crystalline, less organic/sedimentary arrangement. So it's less likely to leach carbonates into your water, unless your water is pretty acidic, and you can think of it functionally as a toughened/condensed limestone.


Agreed. If chemical inertness was a major concern, one could switch to granite, but since it's an igneous rock, you don't find cool fossils in it.


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## keighty (Mar 27, 2014)

That would be an amazing backdrop! It would be possible get a thinner flat piece that is polished, without going around the orthoceras/ ammonites, but it would not look as good.


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## Bikeman48088 (Nov 13, 2013)

keighty said:


> That would be an amazing backdrop! It would be possible get a thinner flat piece that is polished, without going around the orthoceras/ ammonites, but it would not look as good.


That was my thinking. I don't know how thin it comes while still maintaining its 3D relief. If that becomes an issue, I might just have to build undertank or overtank cabinet doors out of it, instead.


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