Anyone Ever Used Tile as Substrate??

[Brian_Indiana]

On occasion, I find posts about tile as substrate. I know the sand vs gravel vs bare bottom is an ongoing debate, but I am curious about the tile lobby. I assume it has fewer devoted followers than the others, but I hope to learn more about it. I have never considered using tile, but it definitely sounds interesting.

I assume it is just standard ceramic tile, but I am at the bottom of the learning curve. I am looking for anyone who has tried this. Please share your experiences using it.....hits/misses/lessons learned/etc. I would like to see pictures as well if at all possible.

I am getting ready to completely change the aquascaping on my 220. It currently has pool filter sand, but am weighing all options. I put new tile in my kitchen, utility room, doorway, and fish room over the last year, so I have a tile experience.....just not in a tanks.

Thanks in advance!

 

[broken]

I have tile on my 560gal tank and it has its good points and bad points.
It is not the best looking but if you are looking for something easy to clean but want something more than a barebottom than it is the way to go.

in my opinion it will never look better than gravel or sand.

 

[ArttyFish]

I use tile. I used it because I hate the fact the no matter how much gravel vacuuming you do, it still holds a lot of gunk in the gravel. But I chose a color of tile that is closes to river sand. The only drawback is you can see the lines in between the tiles and with gravel it looks more natural than tile.

 

[broken]

here is a pic from before I added water.

 

[ArttyFish]

Broken, what is the footprint of your tank?

 

[broken]

Broken, what is the footprint of your tank?

8ft long x 32in deep x 4ft tall

 

[cellowithgills]

I use it for my axolotls, i love it.

 

[Brian_Indiana]

What if I had a thin layer of sand to act as a "grout" to hide the lines? I have a 72 x 24 footprint and could use three 24x24 tiles.

I like the look of sand, but do not want my decor sitting on the glass. A thin layer of tile would add the protection to the glass, but still have the look of sand.

My new aquascape has some very big rocks. It seems the tile would give a better footing so that when the fish big, my rock stacks will not fall.

 

[the_deeb]

If that's your concern, plastic eggcrate would also serve the same purpose. That's what I stick underneath my big rocks.

 

[realfish]

Was considering using slate anyone ever try it? seems like a good fit or at least more natural than ceramic.