I bought $50.00 worth of broken slate and what looks like dead reef rock from the fish store a long while back when setting up my 20g FW tank . It turned out I could not use it in the 20g due to lack of room. I was thinking of swapping out my 55g tanks bridge and adding these rock. The tank is low end brackish right now. I don't have a huge amount of algae but enough to have to clean decor monthly or so. Mainly brown algae even though tank is mature .
Some questions:
1. Will a good soaking before adding to tank be good enough?
2. Has anyone added this sort of rock into their brackish tank and how does it fare?
3. Do you clean the algae off the rock or do you let it get covered in algae? Will it look nice a year down the road in the tank? From what I have read it will not become live unless it is in marine water.
55g-2 green spotted puffers 1 year old Nov 08!
20g-5 leopard danio,4 whiteskirt tetras, amanos, nerita snails, 2 neon tetras
it will never become "live" in the sense that little critters will be living in it like live rock in marine tanks, but the slate and rock in your aquarium will become "live" when nitrifying bacteria adheres to it.
I've got a piece of slate in my F8 tank. As well as some other rocks. I just let them get covered with algae. The only one that really gets it is the white rock I have that is closest to the window. It just looks stained really. Pretty cool looking I think. It's a mixture of brown and green algae. I've only had it since March, but I like it.
Thanks for that Bazil. chin has me worried about the slate. The corners of the slate did not seem sharp when I first was looking at it to buy. Now I am not sure.
55g-2 green spotted puffers 1 year old Nov 08!
20g-5 leopard danio,4 whiteskirt tetras, amanos, nerita snails, 2 neon tetras
It is kind of like the difference between a sharp corner of plastic and a sharp corner of glass. Slate is more apt to pierce than rocks.
And husbands always like an excuse to buy more tools.
. It turned out I could not use it in the 20g due to lack of room. I was thinking of swapping out my 55g tanks bridge and adding these rock. The tank is low end brackish right now. I don't have a huge amount of algae but enough to have to clean decor monthly or so. Mainly brown algae even though tank is mature 
. 
