EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Hi! I am in the process of setting up my 720lit tank (190gal) and currently considering how many rocks to put in it. Is there a rule to how much weight a tank can carry? It is an old styled tank with aluminium frame. It stands on a wooden frame with no top (I did not use a plywood sheet on top of the frame, so it is just resting on the edges of the frame). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tlindsey Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 (edited) On 2/21/2024 at 6:28 AM, EggShappedFish said: Hi! I am in the process of setting up my 720lit tank (190gal) and currently considering how many rocks to put in it. Is there a rule to how much weight a tank can carry? It is an old styled tank with aluminium frame. It stands on a wooden frame with no top (I did not use a plywood sheet on top of the frame, so it is just resting on the edges of the frame). @EggShappedFish It will depend on how much weight the stand can hold. If rocks are placed correctly the aquarium should be fine. Edited February 21 by Tlindsey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 2:26 PM, Tlindsey said: @EggShappedFish It will depend on how much weight the stand can hold. If rocks are placed correctly the aquarium should be fine. Thanks! The stand will hold anything. It's a wooden frame placed on top of cinder blocks. It's the glass bottom of the tank that I am nervous for. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tlindsey Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 8:34 AM, EggShappedFish said: Thanks! The stand will hold anything. It's a wooden frame placed on top of cinder blocks. It's the glass bottom of the tank that I am nervous for. I personally would place the rocks directly on the glass bottom if the fish like to sift or burrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 2:44 PM, Tlindsey said: personally would place the rocks directly on the glass bottom if the fish like to sift or burrow Yeah I was thinking the same. Maybe place some Polystyrene plates bellow the largest ones. Do you think that weight-wise, there is no limit to how many stones I can put in it? My neighbour has offered that I can take any and as many of the stones here, that I may need! Many of them I can't even fit in my car! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tlindsey Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 8:59 AM, EggShappedFish said: Do you think that weight-wise, there is no limit to how many stones I can put in it? Tbh couldn't give you a limit on how many you can put in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastie Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 I started with a lot of rocks, high piles and stuff and over months afterward, I keep removing them. The muck piles underneath them, causes amonia spikes, is impossible to clean. I thought I kept the tank so ok, and then when I removed more and more rocks, I found pockets of muck and I realized it is not worth it. Also, the more rocks you have, the less water you have, ergo the less water volume you have, and you can put less fish in 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 @beastie those are good points! I keep goldfish and they are not the brightest of fish. I need to place rocks with enough space between them, for the fish to not be able to get stuck between them. Also, I have pretty strong water circulation and do water-changes/vacuum every 10 days. I am pretty optimistic that muck should not be an issue, especially because the fish even help whirl it up to be caught by the water moving around in the tank. It indeed can be tricky though, to place the rocks so that they don't create current deadzones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schuyler Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 I wish I could find the video. Someone did a demonstration of how much weight an aquarium could hold. Basically they stacked bricks in a tank and then stood on top of that and jumped. The majority of aquarium bottoms are made from tempered glass which is really strong. Some people put down egg crate to distribute the weight of the rocks. I'm not sure how necessary that is but it made me feel a little less nervous. You also want to make sure that they won't shift and fall out they could hit the sides of squish a fish. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 I did take a few of the rocks offered by my neighbour, and placed them randomly inside the tank for now (after cleaning and treating them), but not sure if I should add more. I need to place them apart from each other, because my goldfish are great at getting stuck. I feel like its easier to visualise where they should go, once they are in the tank In a way I kind of like the simplicity and don't think that more rocks would do much good. Maybe they just need to be rearranged 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tlindsey Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 3:25 PM, EggShappedFish said: I did take a few of the rocks offered by my neighbour, and placed them randomly inside the tank for now (after cleaning and treating them), but not sure if I should add more. I need to place them apart from each other, because my goldfish are great at getting stuck. I feel like its easier to visualise where they should go, once they are in the tank In a way I kind of like the simplicity and don't think that more rocks would do much good. Maybe they just need to be rearranged Nice looking rocks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 (edited) This guy from KG Tropical put ~600-800# of rock in a 240 gallon tank, tempered glass is very strong. The standard advice other have mentioned, put a egg crate ceiling light panel on the bottom to eliminate pressure points and to distribute the load. I Built The PERFECT Tank For Cichlids, Yellow Lab Aquascape Another suggestion I have, using silicone caulk, attach a piece of PVC pipe to the bottom of the tank. Now set the rock on top of the PVC pipe. If you have fish which like to dig, no chance the rock will come crashing down on them. And this makes cleaning under the rock much easier, no need to dig the rock into the substrate. I did something similar for smaller rocks, I glue the pipe to the rock: No, that's not a potato! It's a rock! End results: So the rocks stay in place in the sand substrate. EDIT: I plan on putting ~150# of rock in a 75 gallon tank. Edited February 21 by madmark285 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 10:11 PM, madmark285 said: This guy from KG Tropical put ~600-800# of rock in a 240 gallon tank, tempered glass is very strong. The standard advice other have mentioned, put a egg crate ceiling light panel on the bottom to eliminate pressure points and to distribute the load. I Built The PERFECT Tank For Cichlids, Yellow Lab Aquascape Another suggestion I have, using silicone caulk, attach a piece of PVC pipe to the bottom of the tank. Now set the rock on top of the PVC pipe. If you have fish which like to dig, no chance the rock will come crashing down on them. And this makes cleaning under the rock much easier, no need to dig the rock into the substrate. I did something similar for smaller rocks, I glue the pipe to the rock: No, that's not a potato! It's a rock! End results: So the rocks stay in place in the sand substrate. Those are some great tips thank you! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
face Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 It’s not uncommon for people to put 1to2 pounds per gallon in salt tanks so you’re problem fine, with whatever you wanna do. Just be very careful when placing them a dropped rock can easily break the glass even a relatively small one and don’t damage the bottom seal to that could be bad 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 (edited) On 2/21/2024 at 6:28 AM, EggShappedFish said: It is an old styled tank with aluminium frame. It stands on a wooden frame with no top (I did not use a plywood sheet on top of the frame, so it is just resting on the edges of the frame). I missed that line, an old tank may not have tempered glass. If you can put a plywood sheet on top of the stand, I suggest this. Put some clear package tape on the plywood then apply a thick bead of caulk to it. Then set the aquarium on top of the plywood before the caulk dries. The caulk should help support the bottom. If you need to remove the tank, the caulk should not adhere to the tape. You could also put the tape on the bottom of the tank, same idea. Edited February 21 by madmark285 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 10:25 PM, madmark285 said: If you can put a plywood sheet on top of the stand, I suggest this The reason why I didn't use a plywood sheet, is that the tank would sit on the frame even if there was one. It's true that it may not be hardened glass though. I think that I've settled on not adding much more to it. I just need to re a range the rocks to make it look a bit more balanced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 4:31 PM, EggShappedFish said: The reason why I didn't use a plywood sheet, is that the tank would sit on the frame even if there was one. Understood, that make sense. I just suggested the plywood if you are concerned with cracking the bottom of your tank from the weight of the rocks. If you got some huge rocks going in, put them in the corners of the tank to reduce the load on the glass. On 2/21/2024 at 8:59 AM, EggShappedFish said: My neighbour has offered that I can take any and as many of the stones here, that I may need! Many of them I can't even fit in my car! Gotta love free rocks which can be hard to find for many of us. I got mine from a construction site along a high voltage transmission line right-away. No worries about nasty chemicals like round up, it's just overgrown weeds. This is the latest layout in my project: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 11:02 PM, madmark285 said: otta love free rocks which can be hard to find for many of us. I got mine from a construction site along a high voltage transmission line right-away. No worries about nasty chemicals like round up, it's just overgrown weeds. Have you painted or treated those rocks with something? They look glazed somehow! What fish will you be keeping in that setup? it looks very interesting and has loads of hiding spaces 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 5:06 PM, EggShappedFish said: Have you painted or treated those rocks with something? Nope, I just misted them with water before taking a picture. This is for a 75 gallon Mbuna tank, I plan on stocking it with 4 colonies of Mbuna, 6 per colony (a total of 24 fish). the substrate will be white aragonite. so what are your plans for your tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 On 2/21/2024 at 11:32 PM, madmark285 said: so what are your plans for your tank? Oh I already have the fish! I keep fancy goldfish and have actually had them in that tank before https://i.imgur.com/BHPEvts.mp4 Most of them are currently on the treatment tank that I've had them in for the past couple of months where I have been treating them for flukes. I've moved 4 fish back into my larger tank and getting it cycled up using an established filter from my other tank. My plan is to slowly add more fish from my other tank every 3-4 days so that the filters can build up capacity I want to get at few anubias lanceolata, to add some color to the tank but otherwise I think that I will keep it simple. It has been quite beautiful to start with, but my fish got hurt by getting stuck places that you wouldn't expect them to. I eventually had to remove the drift wood, and even many of the plants because they would get stuck in them. I expect my current setup will be well spaced out rocks, a few plants and just the fish. I also plan on splitting them into good swimmers and not as strong swimmers. Some of my fish have gotten swim bladder issues, presumably due to bad genetics, so I am considering their fate at the moment. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Nice tank! I see a canister filter, what are those 3 pieces of PVC pipe hanging in the tank? Is that a DIY project or something you bought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 On 2/22/2024 at 12:41 AM, madmark285 said: see a canister filter, what are those 3 pieces of PVC pipe hanging in the tank? Is that a DIY project or something you bought? YES! I actually had two cannisters at that point. They both pumped their outlet into a PVC rain gutter that I had mounted inside the tank, filled with filter media. This way I assumed that the water would be filtered even more, breaking ammonia and nitrites down faster. In the video, from the same post, you may have notice that I had replaced the rain gutter, with multiple PVC sewage pipes! 5 of them were filled with ceramic filter media and the rest were "inlet pipes" filled with sponges. Basically I would pull water through the inlet pipes and pour it into the outlet pipes that were filled with the ceramics. On top of that the canister filters would now pour their outlets into one of those outlets too. I have simplified this a lot now and have built some more elegant looking filters but it was good fun messing with this, even though it did not look too great. Also, my fish, being the clever creatures they are, would get hurt on this setup and get stuck behind the pipes, especially if one of the females was dropping eggs! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 On 2/21/2024 at 6:49 PM, EggShappedFish said: In the video, from the same post, you may have notice that I had replaced the rain gutter, with multiple PVC sewage pipes! I did notice that, well done and a toast to PVC! I built a sump filter/overflow boxes with PVC material from Home Depot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 On 2/22/2024 at 10:35 AM, madmark285 said: PVC material from Home Depot True! If it works it works!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now