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RR-MAN

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This guy is using some sort of rock tiles for the back of the glass - love the idea. Do you guys know if that's some special rock or he's using the regular big box store tiles.


 

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Seaworthy Aquatics

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This guy is using some sort of rock tiles for the back of the glass - love the idea. Do you guys know if that's some special rock or he's using the regular big box store tiles.



Looks nice! Must be some sort of travertine tiles which yes you can buy at the store. Just don't use self adhesive ones and stick with the cream colored ones, other colors might mean impurities, and should be reef safe. I've grown a bunch of zoas and acros on them.
 

Tangs

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Ya I have seen that before. Looks awesome even though it adds even more weight to the tank
 

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That’s what I was thinking. I would not use limestone or anything other than reef rocks. Hence the only way I could imagine this being done would be something like stax (slices of reef rock with flat top and bottom) and cutting into small rectangular pieces and that will stack nicely. I am probably wrong but that’s what I got lol.
 

steveb

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I agree reef rock would be the best but I think limestone and/or travertine would work. I've seen several builds in the past where they have used travertine tile on the bottom and even on the back wall but I think stacked rock (of any of those types) would look better on the back wall. Risk of course is the impurities.
 
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I looked into tiles at Lowes and Home Depot one time for large cheap DIY frag tiles. If I remember correctly some have mold inhibitors in them. I’m sure some of the stick heads could point us to the safe ones.
 

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Plain travertine is the way to go. It's a type of limestone and shouldn't break down in a typical reef tank, but anything other than white/cream could have things like iron in it that could cause problems. Don't use any other type of tile or manmade stuff as yes, they can have mold inhibitors and other nasty things in them. You can buy just big tiles of plain travertine thats just cut out of giant blocks and they don't do much else to them. Soak in RODI for two days and sun dry just in case for anything like this going into the tank and should be good. I've used hundred of tiles like this and they have no issues with acros anyway.
 

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I've used the 3/4"x3/4" natural travertine tiles for years w/no issues (LPS and SPS).

I would just go to lowes/homedepot and find sheets that are damaged (missing tiles) and buy them at a steep discount.

The only real PITA is that you have to soak them for a while to remove the glue. I would pull them off the mesh, scrape the back with a putty knife to remove as much glue as possible, then soak for a week or so and then scrape off the remaining glue w/a putty knife.

Like this and yes I looked for ones that were light in color to avoid impurities as much as possible.
1650549421657.png
 
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RR-MAN

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These are the ones I usually use and I just get them at Lowe's.
1650548750536.png

Some of them in the display right now.
1650548782051.png 1650548818885.png 1650548827511.png 1650548838558.png
Bunch more in the tank, just can't see them anymore lol.

I tried these travertine tiles (4X4) from HD - I felt like it was leaching. Could not drop the PO4 levels for some reason. I have to try the ones from lowes.

 
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Plain travertine is the way to go. It's a type of limestone and shouldn't break down in a typical reef tank, but anything other than white/cream could have things like iron in it that could cause problems. Don't use any other type of tile or manmade stuff as yes, they can have mold inhibitors and other nasty things in them. You can buy just big tiles of plain travertine thats just cut out of giant blocks and they don't do much else to them. Soak in RODI for two days and sun dry just in case for anything like this going into the tank and should be good. I've used hundred of tiles like this and they have no issues with acros anyway.
Thx for the heads up!
 
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These are the ones I usually use and I just get them at Lowe's.
1650548750536.png

Some of them in the display right now.
1650548782051.png 1650548818885.png 1650548827511.png 1650548838558.png
Bunch more in the tank, just can't see them anymore lol.
I know a lot of guys seem to prefer the aragonite tile’s over the ceramic and I understand that. Ceramic can leech. I’ve thought about some of these myself.





CEBDE224-A545-4A48-8DC6-5D211CD62945.jpeg 38513C92-C13E-4FAF-B6EE-CF9DDA4F58DC.jpeg
 
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