installing tile

i was wondering about how to put tile inside the tank. i have left over tiles from when my parents re-did the bathroom, and i wanted to know if you just lay the tiles in? or do you glue them to the bottom of the tank and grout them using silicone or something?

I just set my tile in so I can take it out and wash it when I do a thorough tank cleaning but I know that some people use sand to "grout" them in. I believe what they do it put in a bit of sand in the crack, wet it and pack it down REALLY hard, then ad more sand, more water, pack it and so on....I think that is how they do it. I have never done it myself so I am not sure how it works out.

Ah ha, I finally found it. I knew there was a thread about how to grout in tile. here is the link and it has all the directions you need.

http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t376-grouting-tile-in-watch-thread

cool, thank you!

After my brother had cut my tiles to the size of the tank.. I simply placed them in the tank i put sand down all the sides soo that my leopard gecko couldnt get her toes down there and hurt herself. I then sprayed the sand to compact it. I don't take my tiles out to clean them.. i take all the hides and things out of the tank.. vacuum all the mess off the tiles and then spray reptile-friendly disinfectant on and scrub them

I found a pic on my computer that shows the sand down the sides of the tile abit it's not very clear but i dont have anymore pics sorry

thanks for all the suggestions but i think im gonna give the silicone a try. i know the pavers on my back porch has compacted sand between them and its a pain because it always comes out after a hard rain.

Let us know how it turns out.

Altho I don't imagine that you'd get much of a hard rain in your leo's viv, silicon has to be able to be heated so make sure you check the label to see what the heat tolerance of the silicon is. Anything that will melt or not set above 110*F I would avoid. Something else to consider in this is the air gap that is going to be between the tiles and the floor of the tank if you silicon in the tiles.. that air pocket will take all the heat away from your tiles, almost like an insulating buffer. You really don't want your substrait much more than 3/4 inch thick in order for it to heat properly esp. when using natural stone.

I'd love to see what klind of tiles you're using... maybe we could come up with a better idea for ya than silicon.

it would be a regular ceramic floor tile.... never thought about the air pockets that it would create. maybe i could just lay the tiles on the glass than silicone around the edges and in the void between the 2 tiles? i can snap a quick picture of the tile when i get home if you would like to see them.