# Slate stone ok for cichlid tank?



## Adrianinottawa (Jun 16, 2013)

I am a sheet metal worker and gas fitter and I am currently working on a custom home. They just excavated for the septic bed and pulled out a ton of slate. I was thinking this would be perfect for building a stone wall full of caves in the new cichlid tank. I am going to use aquarium safe silicone to join the majority of the rocks to prevent collapses and leave some to move around when introducing new tank mates. Anyone ever have problems with slate?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Slate is fine as long as you remove sharp edges. How will you net a sick or hiding (or dead) fish if you have permanently assembled caves?


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## mr_dorito (Jun 16, 2013)

Pretty much anything is ok as Long as you wash it and sand off any sharp points


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## Brentt700 (Mar 14, 2013)

I use slate for all the rockery in my 75 gallon African tank and they love it! I wouldn't glue it together though. Just make sure you assemble it on the floor and see how sturdy it is before putting it inside the tank......that is what I did. Plus, if you have gravel in your tank, it will provide leeway for any discrepancies that may be uneven on your floor set-up. Just make sure when you install it, move it around with your hand to make sure it's not going to topple over that easily. Just be careful not to let any big pieces drop to the bottom and crack your glass. It really isn't that big of a deal though. I have a TON of slate type of rock in my tank and not all of it is 110% sturdy like you could stand on it. As long as it isn't going to wash over or the fish won't bump it over, you should be just fine. And.....like stated above.....make sure to take the extremely sharp edges off of the slate. Nothing like a fish scraping their slime coat and scales off from brushing up against it while running away from another fish.


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## Adrianinottawa (Jun 16, 2013)

I was concerned about the sharp edges. All of the pieces have sharp edges to some degree. I will have to think about how I am going to do this. I will have to put the sand down as this is a plywood tank and it has a liquid rubber seal so I am also worried about what would happen if I dropped a rock and it sliced the rubber


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You want to put the rock in before the sand so the cichlids cannot dig underneath and topple your stack.


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