tile in tank bottom

[mshill90]

How exactly do you guys have tile in the bottom of your tanks?

Does it just sit in there? It is grouted or anything? glued in?

I have a 180, and I wanted to put tile in it, but the outside dimensions are 24" wide, NOT the inside, so 2 12" tiles don't sit side by side together. Seems like you would have to have them specially cut or something.

If they are just sat in the tank, what do you do about debris getting stuck in between them etc?

 

[pshtex]

mine just sits in the bottom and i vacuum the gaps

 

[mshill90]

BUMP?!

 

[J.Lake]

use a 15 dollar tool to cut the tiles to your size. The debris is easily sucked up

 

[Dr_Shakalu]

use a 15 dollar tool to cut the tiles to your size. The debris is easily sucked up

Unless you get green or brown algae then you can never get it all out because usually tile is pororus then you would have to keep scraping and rubbing the tile to get the algae out, The Doctor

 

[broken]

I would think that stuff can make it underneath the tiles and eventually mess with your water perameters.
I have a tank that I tiled and I used silicone on the underneath and in the cracks to avoid this.

 

[Jenni]

Can I see pics of tiled bottom tanks? Hard to picture. Thanks!

 

[broken]

not a good shot but here you go.

 

[TheBlackOperations]

I think I am going to go tile, not grouted in, but travertine slabs or some type of granite. As much as I love the ease of a bare bottom tank, I need the refraction of light off the bottom. Good looking tank, btw.

 

[postshawn]

Do you guys put something under the tile so that you dont scratch or break the glass? It would almost be interesting to vent the tile and use a under-gravel style filter underneath it. Then you'd get the clean look with a stealthy hidden filtration setup.

It seems like it would be pretty easy to just remove the tiles every month or so for a quick scrub down. Maybe half at a time as to not change the water parameters too much.