How Many Rocks Can Go In A Fishtank

[ziggy_jacob]

hey just wondering cause my parents reckon my tank will crack or leak from all the weight from the rocks but i've seen people with there tanks full of rocks and african cichlids are in this tank but when they dig they cant dig underneath the rock so should be no drama right plz help thanks for in advance

 

[typhoon]

cichlids do dig underrocks and they have a tendacy to move or slide even larger rocks so you must be careful. when i did mine i was told to put all my rocks straight onto the glass and then my crushed coral around the rocks so when the sand/coral is moved the rocks shouldnt be moved easily. the amount of rocks really depends on the size of you tank and what it can handle leaving adequate room for free swimming but also so there are lots of caves and places to hide. some1 else mayb wud b better answering that? but they will need ure tank dimensions.

 

[fishytyke]

for mbuna, 1 rule, rocks, rock and more rocks

This is on of my malawi tanks, with more babies than i could possibly count

there are about 50kg(ish) of cobbles, i've had more weight in there as well, with a good quality tank and stand you will have no probs

make sure the rocks go onto the bottom, not on top of the sand and also make sure that there are no sharp points on the rocks (this creates too much pressure on a single point)

Too many mbuna tanks have just a couple of rocks in the middle and it just isnt enough, you really do have to give them LOTS of nooks and crannies.

go for it, your fish will thank you

 

[ziggy_jacob]

i've got lots of rocks in my tank but with putting the rocks straight onto the glass is wrong because that puts all the weight of the rock onto that bit of the tank gravel evenly distributes it and i'm wondering how do u get pictures on this site like u did "fishytyke"

 

[fishytyke]

yes the gravel distributes the weight, but if the fish dig under the rock, and they Will!!!, it could bring your whole pile of rocks down, as long as the rock are not sharp you are fine putting them straight onto the glass.

If this still bothers you you have two other options

1, buy some "egg crate" which is the stuff that marine guys use to keep live rock off the bottom, its really just the filter grid the you can buy from pond shops, you can then put this onto the bottom of the tank and put the rocks on top.

2, you can use milliput, which is a type of epoyx putty again used by marine guys to fasten rocks together, just make little balls of the stuff and use if to make "feet" for your rocks, the best way to do this it to put a sheet of polythene onto a flat surface and press the rock with its feet onto this, when set you can peel the polythene off and you will havea rock with flat feet.

also if you are worried about your rocks slipping you can always use silicone to glue the rocks together, the downside to this is that its makes it impossible to get the rocks out quickly if you need to catch a fish

hope that all helps a little

Neil

 

[adambrum]

If you think about it when you add rocks you displace water so the actual weight of rocks makes little difference to the weight of the tank.

You have to put the rocks on eggcreat or something similar this will distribute the weight and stop the pin point pressure of a rock resting on a single grain causing the tank to crack

 

[dthoffsett]

I have my rocks directly on the glass, have never had a problem, I have around 130lbs in a 75gal (did have 160lbs at one point). And the added advantage is that with the rocks taking up a lot of floor space, you don't have to buy as much substrate as in a standard set up.

 

[WaterBender1995]

I've used eggcrating (found @ your Home Improvement store in the lighting area in sheets of usually 6 feet.
A pair of wire cutters will take it down to what ever sizes you need. you can put one long piece or several pieces down on the bare glass then fill in with sand, gravel.
heres a sample of what a small square looks like, just so you have an idea.

egg crate for lighting

 

[Matty P]

Did you buy rocks from your lfs or did you just find them.

 

[parker313]

I bought my rocks from a sand supply place. They also supply rocks generally used for landscaping. It was only $.19/lb and I could mix and match from any of their bins. I have 87lbs of rock in my 55g.

 

[Teelie]

I've used eggcrating (found @ your Home Improvement store in the lighting area in sheets of usually 6 feet.
A pair of wire cutters will take it down to what ever sizes you need. you can put one long piece or several pieces down on the bare glass then fill in with sand, gravel.
heres a sample of what a small square looks like, just so you have an idea.

egg crate for lighting

Same here though with my small amount of rock, less than 50 pounds, I haven't had to use it yet. The egg crate was cheap though and works just as well as the LFS stuff.