How Heavy Stones Can I Put?

[keimak]

I'm thinking of putting stones in my 3 x 1.5 x 1.5 foot tank.
But the last time I did that it cracked so now I had it fixed so I'm wondering how much is too much?
The thickness of the glass is 0.5cm

 

[Jacko-Ainze]

Well its hard for us to tell, there are so many different things that would contribute like the quality of glass, but go slow if you do it. What make is it did you buy like an Juwel or Elite?

 

[KittyKat]

Why don't you put something under them, so they don't sit on the glass? I use undergravel filter plates in my malawi tank (which has well over 100kg of stone), some people use egg crate, and suchlike.

 

[micko]

If your spread the weight out so there is less pressure on one point it will balance the weight better. Its hard to answer a question like this and there's many things to take into account, the condition of the tank, the age, the way you are positioning your stones, and how many you have in there.

Sorry I could not be of more help

 

[tenohfive]

Unless its a bare bottom tank surely the substrate will distribute the weight?

 

[This Old Spouse]

I have a huge granite stone on one end of my tank, and it sits on a bed of gravel. I put it in there VERY slowly and carefully. No problem!

 

[KittyKat]

Unless its a bare bottom tank surely the substrate will distribute the weight?

There are many fish which will dig under a rock to spawn there, raise their fry or just attract a mate, so that is not the safest option.

 

[keimak]

Hmm.. any other 'safe' suggestions to decorate my tank?

 

[KittyKat]

A couple more ways of padding, which have come to mind: polystyrene and silicone.

 

[StandbySetting]

Personally I think the best solution for distributing the mass of rocks is to place it on egg crate, it's used a lot in marine set ups when the tank has live rock in it.

 

[keimak]

A couple more ways of padding, which have come to mind: polystyrene and silicone.

How do I use silicone?

Edit : by the way I think you guys got me wrong O:
I want to prevent the rock from cracking the glass from the inside~

 

[pompeydaz]

Personally I think the best solution for distributing the mass of rocks is to place it on egg crate, it's used a lot in marine set ups when the tank has live rock in it.

I'm putting about 20 stones in my tank, is this a good idea? I saw something done with coral at my local aquatics, all at the back of the tank so they could go in and out of them. So was doing the same sort of thing but with stones, should look pretty good. I've got a juwel rio180 hopefully the glass will be fine, I have gravel under the stones, but not sure if that will be good enough

 

[StandbySetting]

How do I use silicone?

Edit : by the way I think you guys got me wrong O:
I want to prevent the rock from cracking the glass from the inside~

The things people have been suggesting above are for lining the tank from the inside

Personally I think the best solution for distributing the mass of rocks is to place it on egg crate, it's used a lot in marine set ups when the tank has live rock in it.

I'm putting about 20 stones in my tank, is this a good idea? I saw something done with coral at my local aquatics, all at the back of the tank so they could go in and out of them. So was doing the same sort of thing but with stones, should look pretty good. I've got a juwel rio180 hopefully the glass will be fine, I have gravel under the stones, but not sure if that will be good enough

Ideally you want the stones on the base of the tank, if the sand moves and one of the rocks slips, the rest could fall too damaging your tank and its inhabitants, resting the rocks on egg crate will prevent this from happening.

 

[pompeydaz]

How do I use silicone?

Edit : by the way I think you guys got me wrong O:
I want to prevent the rock from cracking the glass from the inside~

The things people have been suggesting above are for lining the tank from the inside

Personally I think the best solution for distributing the mass of rocks is to place it on egg crate, it's used a lot in marine set ups when the tank has live rock in it.

I'm putting about 20 stones in my tank, is this a good idea? I saw something done with coral at my local aquatics, all at the back of the tank so they could go in and out of them. So was doing the same sort of thing but with stones, should look pretty good. I've got a juwel rio180 hopefully the glass will be fine, I have gravel under the stones, but not sure if that will be good enough

Ideally you want the stones on the base of the tank, if the sand moves and one of the rocks slips, the rest could fall too damaging your tank and its inhabitants, resting the rocks on egg crate will prevent this from happening.

Thats a good point, Im using shingle so might be abit safe, but will have a think and make sure its all secure.

 

[KittyKat]

A couple more ways of padding, which have come to mind: polystyrene and silicone.

How do I use silicone?

This will only work for rocks which are placed directly on the glass at the bottom of the tank: clean and dry the rock well, position the rock how you want to place it in the tank, but on a table. Take note of the points where it touches the table. Turn the rock upside down and apply aquarium silicone (you will probably need quite a large amount of it) to the spots where the rock touched the table. Let the silicone dry and check that you covered all the spots well. If not, repeat. Clear the substrate away from the glass and place the rock directly on the glass, so that the silicone is between rock and glass.

Edit : by the way I think you guys got me wrong O:
I want to prevent the rock from cracking the glass from the inside~

That's exactly what we've been going on about you need something between rock and glass.