# DIY: Sandbox with slate base



## AaronCombs (Feb 26, 2010)

I was talking in another thread about how loaches like to dig in sand. Well come to find out they didn't want to replace an entire tank of gravel just for the loaches. i suggested make a sand box, they liked it, so here's what I came up with.

First I found what I needed.

- Big Tube of Clear Silicone (2.00 - Habitat Restore)
- Broken Slate Roofing Tiles (Free - Habitat Restore)
- Smooth rocks ($10 for 25 lbs - LFS)

Initially I was looking a huge slap of slate I already owned, but for some reason i didn't start the project because it wan't even. So I kept an eye out for slate.

I volunteer at my local Habit for Humanity Restore... some gracious man donated a pallet of slate tiles, for roofing. I was thrilled because about 10 were broken. Which just wont sell. So I asked my boss and he said I can have them free or He'll throw them in the trash.


*~Setup~*
The base piece for my project had a "chipped" corner... which wasn't really that big of a chip. However it will work great because the rest is still perfect shape.

I would put a strip of silicone down and put rocks on with no gaps between the following rocks so sand wont leave the sand box. (Note you can make the pit deeper by stacking more rocks higher)

Here are some initial pics:

Starting pic









Rocks with silicone strip followed by the strip being covered with rocks.


















After working most of the way around I decided this is a large pit, so I would cover part of it.
Grabbed some of my other dried off aquariums stones I've used in the past. placed them on the slate with silicone. Then proceeded to break up other slabs to get a piece to fit securely on the three rocks I placed down.


Here is the finished product. Once it has completely dried off. I will clean it up and put it in an aquarium.
However I don't have sand so lol you'll have to imagine that there until I can get some.






























Thanks for viewing, let me know if you have any questions.




Aaron


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## dylan94 (Jan 15, 2009)

That looks really cool!


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## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

Don't you think the loaches would just move the sand out of the box?

Good idea, just might need the edges to be a bit higher..


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## AaronCombs (Feb 26, 2010)

yeah I'll be making it higher lol, remember i bought a 20lbs bag of rocks for it.

I'm just waiting for the main layer to dry. when i have it 100% done and in an aquarium i'll show you pics on that.


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

very cool project...


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## PRichs87 (Dec 30, 2009)

OK, now I'm going to do this instead of replacing all of my gravel! Great Idea! I remember you saying something about this in a past thread, glad to see you went through with it!


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## AaronCombs (Feb 26, 2010)

thanks, lol.... if you do this, post up your pics here so we see how you did it compared to me, lol.


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