Tile bottom tanks?

[Bacchus]

I've seen quite a few tanks with tiled bottoms & I'm pretty tempted to give it a try with my new 300. However I've seen a few posts regarding crap collecting beneath the tiles & I'm also concearned about them leaching anything into the water. Hoping to get some info from those of you who have experience with this. Also, would porcelain vs ceramic make a difference? both types are glazed.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Oughtsix]

Neither porcelain or ceramic tile should leach into the tank. The glazing on most tile only seals the top of the tile but the tile itself should not leach. Personally I like the looks of natural slate tile.

I have not run tile bottom tanks but if I did I would really consider lifting the tile off the bottom of the tank and running a filter supply hose to underneath the tile to suck out any debris.

 

[malawi500]

Neither porcelain or ceramic tile should leach into the tank. The glazing on most tile only seals the top of the tile but the tile itself should not leach. Personally I like the looks of natural slate tile.

I have not run tile bottom tanks but if I did I would really consider lifting the tile off the bottom of the tank and running a filter supply hose to underneath the tile to suck out any debris.

how would any debris get under the tile?

 

[Espeso]

You will have areas where poo and unbeaten food will enter. I had tile once and it sucked cleaning it. Unless your going to silicon it in where water can't get under the tiles it will always haplen


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[boldtogether]

Try it out temporarily and see if you like it. If you do, drain tank and silicone down. You will get gunk under the tiles but not anymore than with other substrates.

 

[Bacchus]

Neither porcelain or ceramic tile should leach into the tank. The glazing on most tile only seals the top of the tile but the tile itself should not leach. Personally I like the looks of natural slate tile.

I have not run tile bottom tanks but if I did I would really consider lifting the tile off the bottom of the tank and running a filter supply hose to underneath the tile to suck out any debris.

I actually checked out the slate tiles first, they looked great, & I felt more comfortable with them as they are made of slate, but large flakes broke off of every piece I checked out leaving sharp edges...
Leaving a gap beneath with filtration under the tiles sounds intriguing...what would you use as a spacer between the glass & the tile? Initially I thought eggcrate, but that wouldn't allow any flow at all...
Silicone sounds like a good idea as well, just don't know if I want to make it that permanent...I'd have to silicone over the tank's factory silicone all around the perimeter of the tank where the tile meets the sides...


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[Oughtsix]

I actually checked out the slate tiles first, they looked great, & I felt more comfortable with them as they are made of slate, but large flakes broke off of every piece I checked out leaving sharp edges...
Leaving a gap beneath with filtration under the tiles sounds intriguing...what would you use as a spacer between the glass & the tile? Initially I thought eggcrate, but that wouldn't allow any flow at all...
Silicone sounds like a good idea as well, just don't know if I want to make it that permanent...I'd have to silicone over the tank's factory silicone all around the perimeter of the tank where the tile meets the sides...


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I have slate tile in my entry way, on my stair case, through the downstairs hallway and have never had a single chip break off. I am talking about the Home Depot $1.99 a square foot gauged autumn colored cheap slate tile here. I have several of the left over off cuts in my aquarium that I have tried to make look natural by taking a hammer to the edges. My cichlids have never had a problem with it.

Many of the slate tiles I installed came with surface rubble on them from being knocked around in the box and I culled out 5% - 10% of the tiles (Returned them to Home Depot). But the tiles I installed have not had any chipping problems at all under pretty heavy foot traffic.

You could use practically anything as spacers. You could even silicon little pieces of slate to each corner of the slate tiles as stand offs. I would think even little pieces of hardwood dowel would work well.

If I were to do a slate bottom aquarium I would go to a tile store and get the 18" slate tiles instead of the Home Depot 12" tiles so you will have fewer lines. It will probably cost you double ($12 instead of $6) from a tile store but if you tell the tile store what you are doing they will probably cut the tiles to your desired dimensions for a very minimal cost.

Slate is a very soft stone. Much softer than granite, marble, taverntine, porcelain or ceramic. This makes is very easy to cut with a diamond saw or drill with a diamond hole saw. It should be very easy to drill for an intake pipe and this is also a service most tiles stores should be able to offer.

To me the rough surface and beautiful earth tone colors make slate look much more natural than other tiles... perfect for an aquarium bottom.

Good luck, let us know how it goes?