Home depot slate tiles

[sinibotia]

I got some home depot slate tiles yesterday- 12x12 inches. They look like normal slate; they're definitely not the ceramic fakes. Today I noticed some orange rust-looking patches on the rocks. Should I be worried/remove the rocks? Fish seem a little bit lethargic, but that could be chalked up to still being timid after being shipped and I made a bunch of tank adjustments yesterday.

 

[sinibotia]

Pictures of the rust spots

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[Brookster123]

Get them out asap!!!

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[sinibotia]

Are you sure? Going by this, I thought it would be ok:

Suitability of Rocks in the Aquarium - A Practical Guide

"Iron, the commonest of all metals, is normally present in nature in the form if iron oxide, i.e. rust. It follows that if you have rocks containing iron, betrayed by rusty streaks and patches, it will not normally present a chemical problem for your fish since the rust, iron oxide, is inert, However, if there is enough rusty material it will discolor your water, so rocks that are heavily 'rusted' should not be used. A few patches or spots of rust here and there on rocks is not a problem."

 

[Brookster123]

That's fine and all.. you have instant rust spots and your fish are telling you something is off?? I'd remove the slate and get all natural stone from a garden center.

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[sinibotia]

You're probably right... just frustrated. It was listed as all-natural stone. Supposed to be good; someone else in the area recommended it to me.

 

[Brookster123]

Not saying it's not ok, I'm pretty over cautious with my tanks, to much into them to risk

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[sinibotia]

I know what you mean. I'm thinking about putting the pieces in question into the QT tank and seeing how the fish there react. Wouldn't want to risk it in with anything else.

I know the fish telling me something is off should be a smoking gun, but they were going at it like crazy two nights ago testing each other for pairing, and they look a little beat up, so it may just be that.

 

[ScotJudd]

I've used slates that were blown off my roof, they had been up there and weathered for 50 odd years, and had no problem. Your slates are new and not weathered and any minerals in the slate will leach into the water. Iron oxide might not be your only problem. I'd get them out.


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[sinibotia]

Anybody know a good guaranteed safe source of slate?

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[Mebbid]

Ive used slate from home depot in a number of my tanks. I wouldnt worry about it tbh. You cant realistically tell anything by fish behavior after a major change.

Just run some carbon on the tank and call it a day.

 

[sinibotia]

Ive used slate from home depot in a number of my tanks. I wouldnt worry about it tbh. You cant realistically tell anything by fish behavior after a major change.

Just run some carbon on the tank and call it a day.

Did it ever rust though? Some of the fish these slates are for have a lot of personal (and actual) value.... don't know if I wanna risk it.

 

[coralbandit]

I chimed in on Andys thread about the slate.
Semi mistakenly thinking they were roof type slates.
But in all honesty slate is slate.
It is iron and possibly just scrubbing them in a bucket while you notice the streaking may work fine.
Either way no chemistry expert ,but I think you need a lot of iron to cause trouble???
I have a pretty various collection of roofing slates if you want to pay shipping.
I have red(the hardest/best) doll house slates(6x12 or so) that I have used many times with out issue(discus,angels,rams).
I really wouldn't worry about what you got though.
Got lots of grey/'sea green' slates and many other colors also!!!!

 

[sinibotia]

We'll try what we have with the pair we have now. We have some more pairs arriving soon and if these guys seem ok we'll use these slates for them as well.

As of right now they look pretty ok.

 

[orangepunkins]

I bought these awhile back and used them in my tank. My fish started getting really weird. Slow acting.... I removed the slate and noticed that the rust spots had gotten larger than before. I did a large water change and within 24 hrs the fish had improved. NEVER again will I use slate with rust spots or something like that again.

 

[sinibotia]

Well, the fish were acting normal when I added them back. If they start acting weird again, that's it for this slate. And if that's the case, rambandit I'll take you up on your slate!

 

[54seaweed]

its not slate but its all aquarium safe rock it was in my fw tank over 5 yrs with no problems
pm me if you want it

there's a few really nice pieces in the second pict the 2 on the bottom look awesome in the water the rocks above have small traces of gold oar in them that sparkle under the lights , like I said all this rock was in my tank 5yrs so it was proven safe

 

[coralbandit]

I can get a couple good pieces for you!
I also cut slate no problem!
Say the size you would like.
Keep in mind the size of box for priority shipping.
Wonder if "not priority" same box is cheaper???
Doesn't much matter (shipping safely wise) how long it takes huh??
My slates are on PALLETS!(for reference on how many different varieties/sizes...)
I go from the doll house 6"x12" 1/4" thick reds right up to
2'x2' 1 1/2 " thick slates left over from repairs on the 'Gideon Putnam Hotel' in SPAC that weigh like 25lbs each!

 

[sinibotia]

Thanks for the offer Seaweed, but I need specifically slate for angelfish spawning. I have a lot of normal aquarium safe rock of a bunch of different kinds, actually. At my wife's parents house waaaay upstate it's pretty pristine (middle of nowhere) so we can get a lot of aquarium safe rocks without wondering what they've been exposed to.

CB, I just need something around 12 inches tall and between 3 and 6 inches wide? Anything not ridiculously thick works. If you've got stuff lying around you don't need to cut! I'm not picky; just need good angelfish spawning surfaces. The slate I have for rams is only like 4x4. PM me with price and whatnot! Shipping speed doesn't matter!

 

[sinibotia]

By the way, orangepunkins, what was the "weird" behavior caused by the rusty slate? I'm curious to see if it corroborates with what I've seen/might see?