2 replies to this topic

[Barca888]

Recently purchased 70 kg of river rocks varying from 2-10 kilo. I am gonna put these guys in a 5 x 2 x 2 on a simple powder coated steel stand. Once i do this would i have reason to worry about the tank breaking?

Thanks Peter

[hlokk]

The chance of the tank breaking from the weight is pretty slim (unless your tank uses thin glass, so not 12mm or more, or the stand is weak).

If you put something like eggcrate or plexiglas or plastic a few mm of other plastic (like polycarbonate) you can load the tank with rocks and it shouldnt break. Alternatively you can rest the rocks on sand or gravel but this isnt reccommended for a lot of cichlids that like to dig.

Glass will fail in an aquarium due to the pressure of the rocks not the weight. So as long as you dont have the rocks resting at small contact points, you can put in heaps of rocks (slowly of course )

[mrgreen]

ive used heaps of rocks but u do have ta worry about the weight of a pile of rocks being concentrated ona couple of grains of substrate , that could be quite nasty , maybe layer the bottom of the tank with something that will disperse weight better , in sayin thgis i use nuthin and have had no problems with my heavily rocked tanks

cheers steve green