Slate tiles - What can I make from them ?

[Rich T]

Ok ive done a bit of planting now, still need some forground plants though to finish it off and I think I need to change the background colour from black to a dark green maybe...

Ive also tried to rescue some of the Java Moss by squashing it under a piece of netting (Thats the pieces of slate with a black net over it on top of the caves.
Hopefully it will survive and start to grow through the netting.

 

[Gill]

That Looks excellent, You never know - you could turn that into a nice little earner on here or ebay.

 

[Aylana]

That is an amazing idea! They look so cool, I am definately going to give that a go, although I doubt it will turn out as good as yours. My cories and khulies should love it though.

 

[Rich T]

Hehe would people really want them enough to pay for them ? Plus there a little fragile so im not sure if they would survive transit too well. The structure is strong but the slate fractures easily.

One thing I have noticed though is my Cories keep going to sit on top of the caves !! Before this they only ever ventured from the gravel bed to the surface for air so thats been an unexpected bonus

One thing I would do differently if I were to do them again would be to make the caves more enclosed, I think they feel a little too open as the cories didnt venture into them for the first day at all.

If anyones been inspired into doing this themselves please post pics of your creations in here

 

[Vivienne]

We've got a pile of roofing slates left over from our house build. Just picked up a small tank today for my youngest tank (and to use as a quarantine tank if necessary). Two tanks now but still no fish ! Thought we might have a go at putting together some sort of slatey, cavey structure. You've given me lots of inspiration ! I'll post some pics when we're done.

 

[paulioo]

As soon as i seen your post I went down to B&Q and bought some slate tiles and made a little cave for my rams.

I'm quite proud of it

Paul.

 

[jasonl]

My fish keep digging up my plants. I have plastic plants because of this. To keep them from doing this i siliconed my plants to the slate and then siliconed gravel on top of that. Now when my fish decide to dig they wont rip my plants up. this is also a handy way to make shelves for your caves and make the plants look like they are growing out of them.

not too creative but it works.

 

[caspercanuck]

isnt the slate sharp?

 

[Lateral Line]

I used to get slate from a builders merchants. They sold slate tiles for roofing. They always had some broken ones which were "useless" so I often got a whole load of "bits" for next to nothing.

Echo the above, slate can have very sharp edges and should be filed to reduce the risk of injury.

>>> YOU THINK YOU KNOW, BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA

Really?

 

[Rich T]

I used to get slate from a builders merchants. They sold slate tiles for roofing. They always had some broken ones which were "useless" so I often got a whole load of "bits" for next to nothing.

Echo the above, slate can have very sharp edges and should be filed to reduce the risk of injury.

>>> YOU THINK YOU KNOW, BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA

Really?

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Yes it can be very sharp, but I broke off and shaped the slate to remove the sharp edges with a small hammer It couldnt even cut paper now

 

[Hels]

hi...

i got a great big bag of small bits (hopefully idea for this type of thing) of slate, more than i'll ever use, from my local garden centre. It was £3.99 and the best thing was that it says 'suitable for aquarium use'!