Home Depot flower pot reef safe?

[MoshJosh]

Thinking about adding a flower pot (well half of one) hoping my clowns might lay eggs on it someday. . . Safe?

 

[exnisstech]

I used them with no problems. I just wash them off in case there are some chems from sitting around. Maybe rinse in RO or let dry just so there's no chlorine from the wash
Edit: nice job splitting it in two. Mine always end up pretty jagged or in 3 pieces

 

[PotatoPig]

As long as it isn’t glazed / painted it should be fine. I’d give it a good scrub/rinse first.

My clowns in their “Hobo Nem”:

 

[MoshJosh]

I used them with no problems. I just wash them off in case there are some chems from sitting around. Maybe rinse in RO or let dry just so there's no chlorine from the wash
Edit: nice job splitting it in two. Mine always end up pretty jagged or in 3 pieces

Used an angle grinder to score it all the way around before breaking it

 

[OrchidMiss]

Could be a neat base for an entrusting coral! Cyphastrea, leptastrea, even zoas could create a really pretty underwater flowerpot feel. So many ideas!

 

[Graemesreef]

Thinking about adding a flower pot (well half of one) hoping my clowns might lay eggs on it someday. . . Safe?

I would bet it's better than caribsea painted plaster.

 

[TonyaGilmore]

I think it surpasses caribsea painted plaster in quality.

 

[LadAShark]

Thinking about adding a flower pot (well half of one) hoping my clowns might lay eggs on it someday. . . Safe?

The glaze may help, but terracotta clay may contain arsenic, barium, cadmium, lead, and potentially others. Personally, I wouldn't risk it. It's probably fine, but if it does leach imperceptibly, you may find yourself wondering what is causing your problems way down the line.

 

[workhz]

I was going to say I don't trust anything enough to put in a tank but we have pumps, magnets, heaters etc. Anyway, if one were to want to create something or some shape to have coral encrust, what could you use? Is there any compound that would glue aggregate easily or anything else for that matter?

 

[doubleshot00]

Local guy near me has one he added epoxy and rock rubble to to make caves in his tank. Looks awesome.

 

[srobertb]

I was going to say I don't trust anything enough to put in a tank but we have pumps, magnets, heaters etc. Anyway, if one were to want to create something or some shape to have coral encrust, what could you use? Is there any compound that would glue aggregate easily or anything else for that matter?

Make a negative mold, fill with aqua stick putty or use it like playdoh to make your shape. You could also make a negative mold and fill it with e-Marco 400 mixed to a slightly thinner consistency. I quick google search for “skull mold” (as a common decoration) showed multiple sized and designs that you could easy fill.

Might be a fun project

On those fish tank shows on TV it seems they often cover things of questionable nature entirely in acrylic resin or epoxy.

Be wary of any aquarium decor items found… anywhere. Saltwater tends to melt them or flake off paint. Clay pots are used ALOT in freshwater planted tanks and I have seen them in SW tanks but to the point people are making on here: It adds a variable to your aquarium that lots of us are unwilling to contend with. Then again, complete water tests are so easy to get these days (just mail it off) that I’d just get a test at 3, 6, and 12 months (and thereafter if things looked funky).

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Never knew you could use a flower pot inside a tank like that

 

[vetteguy53081]

having 4 pairs of breeder clowns, this is my go to breeding home for them although a couple pair have slowed down , and one pair chooses the tank corner for eggs only to be eaten every time

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A bunch of people use flower pots like this for clownfish breeding, so I'd personally assume - like PotatoPig mentioned - that as long as it's not painted or something, it should be totally fine.

For examples:

clownfish spawning

My Onyx Clutch #3

www.nano-reef.com

Brett's Breeder Setup

Well this project has been a long time in the making and is finally done! I thought i would post some...

www.utahreefs.com

 

[MoshJosh]

Thanks for the replies guys, I am soaking it in some old saltwater on my porch (hoping if anything does leach it will do so in the bucket and not in the tank). . . That said, there are some black markings where I used the grinder, hoping just burn marks and not transfer from the disk itself. . . that that said, I may try again at cutting one to see if I can get it a bit taller.

 

[Rjramos]

Like said clownfish breeders use clay pots and floor tiles all the time. No corals though. I’ve used clay pots in my reef tank to be able to remove the eggs before hatching. Never had any problems or negatives, don’t do ICP test to find out either. One thing I always do is make the hole on the bottom of the pot large enough to swim through, with a grinding dremmel.

 

[SinkyShippy]

Thanks for the replies guys, I am soaking it in some old saltwater on my porch (hoping if anything does leach it will do so in the bucket and not in the tank). . . That said, there are some black markings where I used the grinder, hoping just burn marks and not transfer from the disk itself. . . that that said, I may try again at cutting one to see if I can get it a bit taller.

Did you end up putting it in your reef tank? Any issues?

 

[MoshJosh]

Did you end up putting it in your reef tank? Any issues?

Yeah, I put in my tank for a little while, ended up not trying to breed the Fish/didn’t need it anymore so I took it out. But I didn’t notice any issues.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, folks should be cautious since this is not a single brand product, and could be made with different ingredients by different suppliers, even to just Home Depot.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Clay Cookware: How Healthy Is It?

In 2017 I had an experience with clay cookware. I bought a large and expensive clay cooking pot and cooked a few meals in it. In the light of concerns about lead and cadmium in ceramic cookware and...

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"The researchers found that arsenic, the focal point of the study, leached up to 10 times more from the unglazed earthenware. They concluded that the risk of arsenic poisoning was high enough to be of concern and warrant regulation. By the way, according to the UK’s Foods Standards Agency, arsenic is not uncommon in clay.

Another study assessed the incidence of heavy metals leaching from traditional, i.e. unglazed, clay cooking pots. Per the results of this study, lead, cadmium and iron transferred in considerable amounts, exceeding the safe limits in food established by the World Health Organization. The researchers concluded that as heavy metals were toxic in trace concentrations due to bioaccumulation, traditional clay pots constituted a public health hazard when serving as food contact material."