can you use granite in tank construction????

[dieden]

As the title explains I am interesed in using a piece of granite (or marble) as the back panel of a tank and would like to know if anyone had any experience doing this. How would I seal the stone without causing harm to the reef critters. I am deffinately not going to use any chem based sealers, but would still like to seal it as well as possible because I think that unsealed stone would be a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[ac7av]

Are you thinking about using the granite as the back panel of the tank or just inserting a piece into the tank with a glass panel? I called my brother who works for a granite fabricator. He said that it would need some kind of support depending on the size of the piece and water pressure. You would probably want to get a piece that has been x-rayed to insure there are no imperfections in the piece since it is not manufactured like glass. As far as sealing it, you can use any aquarium safe product you like. If your talking about sealing the surface of the slab like you would do as a countertop, why would you need too?

 

[trido]

AFAIK granite will not hold water. It has millions of micro pores and will absorb water and allow it to pass through in time. If your simply using it as a decorative just toss it in. There is no need to seal it. YOu may want to soak it for a while first since Im not sure what the polishing compounds contain or if they will leach out into the water.

 

[returnofsid]

I would worry about the chemical compounds present in the granite. It's not inert and will naturally have chemical effects on the saltwater.

 

[servicky]

nope no granite i own a granite company... in a week all the water would be on the other side... as in on the floor. also to much chemicals.. when they polish granite they poru a resin over the stone when they polish it to close the pores. also other ingredients. silica,quartz,umm i cant think now.....

 

[mcvicker]

You could place a granite veneer on the other side of the glass. Sort of like the plastic sheets with the reef picture you see in lfs.
-chris

 

[morgan]

i have a coral growing on slate collected in qld