# DIY Discovery -- clay pot base for food dish



## FONE (May 21, 2013)

Reading the BST forums religiously, I saw some listings on food dishes, and decided to take a look on eBay also what's available.

One thing that occurred to me is that if I can have a flower pot in my tank, the base of the flower pot should also be fine.

These come in different sizes at Dollarama, in packages of 2 or 3 for $1. They're heavy enough to stay down on their own, and seem inert enough to put in the tank.

Any thoughts and feedback on this? Thanks!


----------



## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

Great idea I have been using them for years.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Those clay saucers should be quite safe. You can always sanitize them if you have any concerns about anything they may have come in contact with, but they are made of exactly the same stuff as a basic flower pot. Baked terra cotta.. so they're harmless and last nearly forever. 

You can get them with a baked on glaze on the inside of the saucer too. That makes them waterproof. It's handy if they're being used as plant saucers, and it also makes it very easy to clean them now and then. The glaze, btw, does not dissolve in water, so it should be quite harmless.


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Isn't there lead in clay pots that can poison fish?


----------



## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

I have been led to believe that the glazing on the saucers may contain lead. I don't know for sure and I only use unglazed saucers.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Lead's not good, that's for sure. If they're made in Mexico it may be possible that lead was used. 

But so far as I know, lead is mainly used in brightly coloured glazes, not the simple clear one on the pots. That's the main use for it, to get bright colours. If you recall, police cars used to be a distinctive bright yellow ? They switched to the white ones we have now because the only way to get that colour yellow was to use lead in the paint. Bad for the paint workers and also for the body shop guys when the paint was damaged, just like in old houses with lead paint.

It is why many of those really pretty pottery pieces you can get from Mexico are not food safe. 

If it's made in Italy, there'd be no lead.


----------

