slate with rust ?

[murff68]

Hi, a friend gave me a piece of slate for my freshwater tank but it looks rusty on one edge & rusty on one side with a golden colour, I was wondering if anyone here uses similar slate and if its safe to use.

 

[mrwizard]

Hi, a friend gave me a piece of slate for my freshwater tank but it looks rusty on one edge & rusty on one side with a golden colour, I was wondering if anyone here uses similar slate and if its safe to use.

The problem with using these stones is you do not know what it has been treated with up until now. A lot of companies will treat or even dye their materials to resemble something that it is not so I'd be wary of that, but as you got it off a friend that might not be the case, having said that I couldn't tell you if it's safe or not, sorry.

 

[Convict2161]

Personally I would only use rocks that are labeled aquarium safe or sold at a reputable fish store. I mean they do have testing kits so you can test rock for certain metals etc but they are expensive and I think out weigh the option of just buying a safe rock.

Like the post above stated there really isn't a way to know what that slate has been treated with and very often they are dyed or mixed with chemicals to give it a different look.

Was it from a construction site? Rock quarry? Something laying around his house? Or was it in his tank?

I would air on the side of caution here.

 

[Rhino]

I bought solid slate tiles from Lowe's, busted them up and used them to make a background. No problems in my tank at all.

 

[jcolon]

Hi, a friend gave me a piece of slate for my freshwater tank but it looks rusty on one edge & rusty on one side with a golden colour, I was wondering if anyone here uses similar slate and if its safe to use.

Nice looking piece of Slate. The coloration looks natural, the various colors I'd say are different minerals and iron embedded in the clay particles, should be OK.