# Ceramic rock caves



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

I haven't seen anyone making their own ceramic cave ornaments. Maybe it's because not many people have a kiln. But I do so I decided to take the plunge. Normally I am a ceramic potter on the wheel and don't do much handbuilding. Making the rock and log caves for my Africans was a lot of fun. They are MUCH lighter than real rock would be so I can have larger structures without fear of too heavy. No need to worry about them falling over either. With the foam and cement type backgrounds and structures there is the worry of leaching and pH issues. Not with the ceramic. I used glazes that I know are very stable and contain no toxic metals...nor does it affect the pH at all. If anyone has access to a kiln I highly recommend taking this approach to tank ornament.

I may need to make more with larger caves as my fish grow. The tank is very new and all of my fish are juvies. Just have to wait and see how they fit into the existing caves as they grow. Right now 20 fish in my 75 and there are around 30 caves.

I don't know how to post a picture on the forum, but you can check out my profile to see what they look like.


----------



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

I would appreciate any feedback someone might offer. This is my first foray into cichlids and I'm wondering if there is anything I should be adding (plants maybe, etc) or changing. The fish seem to be happy, though the dom Nyeri has pretty much claimed the whole right side of the tank.


----------



## Potus (Dec 11, 2009)

Your decorations are crazy! They look great. The only thing about your tank I have any worry over is the 5 kenyi in your tank. But that is only from my own personal failure, stemming from bad advice.

If you hadn't said you made your decorations I would have thought you bought those.


----------



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

Thanks Potus. I've been making pottery for a few years, but mostly on the wheel. First foray into tank decor'...lol. I'm a little worried about the kenyi as well. When I went to get my fish the lfs guy looked at my printed profiles, saw the (ummm can't remember the name at the moment, but the females turn yellow while the males stay blue and are supposed to be less aggressive than the kenyi) then he walked over to the kenyi's and started dipping. At the time I didn't know the difference. So far they are living peacefully, but they are only about 3" with one obvious male. I'm setting up another 75 that I'll probably end up moving them to. Along with at least one of the male Nyeri's.

On the decorations. Wish I could make them for sale, but they are so labor intensive that the cost would be prohibitive for most people, I fear.


----------



## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

It's very different from what I'v ever seen before, the tree stump looks really nice. I don't know if I like the other pieces, but maybe its just because it's hard to see on the small pictures.

Either way it's awsome you made that yourself, aslong you like the look of the caves thats clearly the most important. I was thinking add a little "sponge bob" figure and you would have the most cool tank for a childs room, thumbs up and thanx for shareing your craftsmanship. :thumb:


----------



## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

Here u go Morgan, thourt I would post your pics in the thread


----------



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

Thanks Pali. I couldn't figure out how to post the pics. Thanks for the comments as well. Yeah...the rocks are somewhat a work in progress. I was trying to create as many caves as I could while keeping the "stack" random. I also made them to fit in front of the filter intake and heater. The two back ones were made first and fired together. The rock supporting the log was made for that and I used a little different technique and glazing process. I think it came out better. Plus the caves are bigger and all of them, including the log, have two access holes each to prevent someone from getting trapped by an aggressor. These may end up in my other 75 when I get new ones to replace these for my show tank. We'll see how they come out.


----------



## juliocromus (Aug 1, 2010)

Dude soo sweet man If id a knew there was a safe glaze I woulda taken pottery class in high school those are SWEEET!!!!! :drooling: :dancing: =D>


----------



## NuFish (Aug 10, 2010)

I'm not sure about the other pieces, it look could be affected by the camera. That tree stump is very nice, that will add a nice touch to any tank. I think you are on to something here Morgan, aquarium safe pottery could be a big winner. Some of those crazy shapes you can make could really move DIY aquarium aquascaping to the next level. Just keep at it!

NuFish


----------



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

Thanks, Juliocromus. As for the safe glaze issue... It is tricky. You have to have an understanding of glaze chemistry, application, firing, matching the glaze to the clay. Not really for the novice when the intent is to put it into an environment where toxicity can kill. I mix my glazes so I know exactly what goes into them. I'm cautious not to use oxides that will leach toxicly. Most of the colorant oxide I use is iron. A couple of others in very small amounts, but you can get a lot of color variation with just iron depending on what the other oxides in the glaze are. I've used a tiny bit of copper and manganese, but if they did leach it would be in such minute amounts the effect would be negligible. And with the water change frequency recommended it wouldn't build to toxic levels anyway. I use a Raku clay and formulate the glaze to work with it for a very stable glaze. Probably a lot more info than anyone not a potter really wanted to hear. LOL


----------



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

Thank you as well, NuFish. Certainly there is some camera affect with the rockwork. I understand your thought on them, and Pali's comment about adding sponge bob. The do look a bit Cat in the Hat'ish...whimsicle, if you will. That wasn't my intent, but perhaps they came out looking that way. I was trying to keep the actual weight down as much as possible so made it entirely of thin (1/8" thick) slabs. That made it difficult to build a truly rocklike structure. I will have to try a little different approach to making it look more like stacked rocks yet still keep the weight down AND provide a bunch of caves. For all 4 pieces in here I used less than 50 pounds of clay. That is the weight of the clay when still raw. It loses a significant amount of water weight when it fires. Wish I had weighed them after firing and before putting them in the tank. I do know it is SIGNIFICANTLY less than a solid rock structure of the same size.

Perhaps if I can get the look perfected and get a system down so they are not so time consuming to make I can offer them for sale at a reasonable price.


----------



## juliocromus (Aug 1, 2010)

I wonder if one can carve a decoration like that out of a block of clay. :-?


----------



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

Certainly it is possible to carve one out of a block. Two problems with that. One is that you would end up using and wasting a lot of clay. Second, it would most likely at least crack apart and perhaps explode in the kiln during firing. Solid blocks of clay typically are very hard to fire without problems. That's why most ceramic pieces are hollow. Tiny air bubbles and residual water (steam) in the clay have no way to escape. As heat expansion happens they crack the clay. In extreme cases you open the kiln and find tiny bits of fired ceramic littering the kiln and embedded into the kiln brick. Quite a mess.

Not impossible to accomplish, but takes a LOT of patience waiting for the raw clay to dry completely and VERY slow firing...usually to lower temps that barely vitrify the clay and likely would not be suitable for aquarium use.

Better to slab build and let dry completely.


----------



## kreature (Feb 26, 2010)

WOW, looks awsome!

What a talent!

Keep it up!


----------



## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

must be nice to have a kiln, man am I jealous. I have to use sculpey clay which works but I still like real clay and firing. For the curious, yes sculpey is safe for aquariums and under water. Been using it for years and never lost a fish or ran into problems with it. On a very basic level sculpey is pvc powder mixed with mineral oil , same stuff plastic water pipe is made from. After baking the pvc fuses and the mineral oil evaporates in the oven. I have pieces that have been submerged for 5+ years and still doing fine.

It can be tricky to work with at first, because it is the opposite of clay in a lot of ways. When I used clay I could make 2" thick pieces without a problem. With sculpey if you make something too thick it will likely crack so you have to use a lot of interior support. Aluminum foil balls work well for that.

I'm working on a haunted house , victorian style for halloween. My test tank where I try all my designs changes every month. The fish in that tank never know what to expect but I have learned a lot from their criticism over what fish like !


----------



## Morgan Harris (Sep 15, 2010)

That is too cool, cgmark. A lot of talented people in this hobby. Would love to see your stuff.


----------



## GeriJo (May 13, 2010)

I think that the funky ones would look really awesome in an old metaframe tank.


----------

